or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
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"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
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"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
June 05, 2008
The Iron Law Of Institutions, In Iraq
Patrick Cockburn's long article on a permanent deal keeping US troops in Iraq is full of useful information. But I particularly liked this:
Iraq's Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, is believed to be personally opposed to the terms of the new pact but feels his coalition government cannot stay in power without US backing.
Or as the Church of the SubGenius puts it:
Colonialism never would have succeeded anywhere, had the natives not been so dedicated to fighting amongst themselves that they were happy to sell out to the invaders for a few extra blunderbusses.
As the Iron Law of Institutions says: the people who control institutions care first and foremost about their power within the institution rather than the power of the institution itself. Thus, they would rather the institution "fail" while they remain in power within the institution than for the institution to "succeed" if that requires them to lose power within the institution.
Governing is the art of pretending this isn't true, because telling the truth wouldn't make you popular: "Don't you see? Obviously I personally think having US troops here shooting all of us is a bad idea, but if they leave me and my friends would lose power!"
—Jonathan Schwarz
Posted at June 5, 2008 06:25 PMWatch Congress bend over for it, they want the oil too. Don't it all just suck?
Posted by: Mike Meyer at June 5, 2008 07:07 PMIt's not just oil, buddy. I think a lot of analysts see low poll numbers for the war on Iraq and assume that opposing the occupation--separate from the war-- is politically sound; these are, generally, people who haven't heard of AIPAC.
The Democrats who didn't have the political courage to oppose the war are the same ones who don't have the courage to call for a reevaluation of Middle East policy. It's no longer about oil; it's about waiting for Peak Zionism.
Posted by: Sully at June 5, 2008 07:35 PM“Colonialism never would have succeeded anywhere, had the natives not been so dedicated to fighting amongst themselves that they were happy to sell out to the invaders for a few extra blunderbusses.”
It seems to me that colonialism succeeds because of superior technology in weaponry possessed by the colonialists. Or at any rate it is the perception on the part of the invaders that superior weapons will allow them to succeed which they don’t always do. Here in America it was very successful, we are still here after all and the natives have either been assimilated into our culture or confined to small patches of land where they often live in poverty. And by whatever criteria you judge the invasion of Iraq I believe that as long as we are there it is a success in the minds of the people who are responsible for the invasion no matter how badly off the Iraqi people and infrastructure is. Also there is a perception among Americans that most of the deaths in Iraq are due to the civil war but according to Michael Schwartz 60 to 70 percent of the deaths are from American soldiers killing Iraqi people which should be no surprise. Schwartz also said that according to an AP poll many Americans believe only about 9,000 Iraqi people have been killed. Of course Americans believe a lot of things.
Bombin' Johnnie McStain sez he opposed the Preznint on Iraq. But only on the tactics, and at that, only very equivocally.
Colonialism succeeds because one group, usually supplied with superior fire-power, imposes its rules on another side whixh lacked--at first, at least--access to those weapons which conferred such authority. White people remember Haiti in 1805-11, because the oppressed repayed all the debts in kind.White people forget Haiti is the 2nd oldest Republic in our hemisphere.
Posted by: woody, tokin librul at June 5, 2008 08:32 PMThis Iron law business makes me think we need a new institution solely dedicated to electing a philosopher king to unconditionally rule us all.
Posted by: scudbucket at June 5, 2008 10:22 PM
