Wicked Rule and the Need to Destroy Christianity

What is the ultimate goal of materialists who lust for power and comment that they're "living their best lives?"

An old quote from the 2013 season of House of Cards by the character Frank Underwood gives us some insight [*1]:

Such a waste of talent. He chose money over power, in this town a mistake nearly everyone makes. Money is the McMansion in Sarasota that starts falling apart after ten years. Power is the old stone building that stands for centuries. I cannot respect someone who does not see the difference.

Money buys all our material needs and desires. Once we have a certain amount of wealth, and material needs are met, the pleasures we buy have diminishing marginal value of return, as the second dessert we consume rarely gives us the same satisfaction of the first. Even the poorest among us, using assistance from the government, can have a one-bedroom apartment, a warm bed, sugary foods by the push of a button, and a 60-inch flat-screen TV or computer with access to most of the world's entertainment, pornography, and information. From a purely material perspective, would you rather live like a king in the 18th century or a pauper in the 21st?

As we advance in technology, the material difference between the rich and poor, when it comes to access to material luxury, becomes less. The needs of materialists graduate from securing things that enhance bodily comforts and pleasures to controlling the world around them.

Power: Size and Scope
The ability to make people do what we want has a rush independent from relieving bodily desires in a pleasurable fashion from our purchases. We call this "power." And the thrill of power has an addictive quality [*2] that motivates the intelligent, ambitious, and faithless materialists among us.

How can we measure power? One way is by the size and scope of the jurisdiction. A president of a country has more power than one its mayors, and a president of a multinational organization has more power than a president of a small business. Presidents of larger areas usually have more scope in power as well, meaning the range of things he can compel his subjects to do, because larger jurisdictions necessarily mean less competing jurisdictions subjects of that power can switch to. While the ruled can follow their rulers willingly out of respect and/or love, often times the ruled follow because they are, at least partly, dependent upon their rulers.

The ruled having less ability to change their rulers (be they private or public ones) means a wider array of things rulers can command of their ruled. But this power is checked by the reasonableness of the commands given. A just king has not only moral limits he imposes on himself for what he will command but realizes there is a limit to his power.

For example, in times of antiquity, rulers would often declare a debt jubilee for their subjects [*3]. Why? Was it because rulers of antiquity were more benevolent than they are today?

Farmers would borrow money to survive if a crop season failed. Debts were repaid, often times by fractions of 1/3 of future crops, with compound interest. Thus, after consecutive failed seasons, a farmer may have to pay about 2/3 of his crop to his creditors with interest. The farmer would become a servant to his creditors for the remainder of his days.

But what if an invading army nearby went to the ruler's subjects and promised to absolve all debts if only they'd assist in deposing the ruler and installing the invaders as their new rulers? Smart rulers know that their subjects can only take so much oppression before competitors can use that oppression to their advantage. This is akin to what we see in modern private organizations, as they can only treat their employees so poorly before their competitors take away key talent with offers of higher pay and/or better working conditions.

This is why empire is desirable for those who lust for power. A large-enough jurisdiction means subjects have no choice but to accept the commands of their rulers. But, even then, rulers of large jurisdictions don't want the illusion of choice taken away from their subjects. Compliance with rules is far more common if subjects believe they are being ruled legitimately [*4].

Duration of Power
This is why, in the modern world, nearly 100% of all countries purport to be some sort of "democracy." Democracy gives the illusion of legitimacy for rulers and justifies compliance with its rules with far more enthusiasm than does rule by mere autocratic control.

We can oftentimes use money to buy power, but power is something money can't always buy. For those that claim corporations have more power than government, when we examine the nature of the "power" a corporation holds, it is its manipulation of government power, often through money, that matters. Bureaucrats, politicians, and individuals can all control government to some degrees. Private organizations can as well, but usually only in a myopic area of interest, such as regulations to a particular industry.

Certainly, organizations like Pfizer and Moderna control much of the world in the present vaccine regime. Their power seems greater in the present moment than it truly is, due to our resistance to being compelled to take so-called "boosters" every six months in exchange for our right to participate in  public life outside our homes that pharmaceutical companies are keen on conditioning [*5]. But that is one area of control for now within the context of a far greater agenda we can't fully see.

Rule from the present vaccine regime must have much deeper roots. Great power is for the intelligent and ambitious who are well aware it can fade. Rulers seek to prolong their own lives as long as possible, of course, but what good are their lives if their power wanes? How do they preserve power for their time on this Earth?

Democratic systems are corrupted and controlled behind the scenes, usually by countries' "intelligence communities." The world's leading democracy, the U.S. by its "intelligence" apparatus, for example has engaged in 81 election-influence operations from the end of World War II to the year 2000 [*6] (and how many more since then?).



Arbitrary and Capricious Quality
Once our rulers have sufficient jurisdiction, scope, and security in their rule, the final aspect to focus on is quality. By this, I don't mean an objective or moral aspect. Instead, I mean the rulers' ability to change the way they rule without significant opposition.

Right now, it is popular among rulers to promote sexually libertine lifestyles by blurring the lines between male and female and promoting sex as a sterile pleasure, probably to assist with a goal of depopulation to reduce large families who're far more skeptical of rulers' power since large families can depend on each other more-so than smaller families who're more likely to be dependent upon their rulers. But what if the population needs to be increased? Can rulers go from promoting "trans rights" to banning homosexuality again?

The ability to quickly reverse policy or move it in any direction at the rulers' whims is the apex of their power. This is especially true if policy can be changed without a comprehensible reason, suddenly and without being held accountable. In law, we call this being "arbitrary and capricious."

In some jurisdictions, courts are tasked with enforcing something called "substantive due process," meaning limits on the government's behavior. No law or rule is allowed to be "arbitrary and capricious," as a court, when asked by plaintiffs, is supposed to step in and nullify rules if they are imposed, especially suddenly, with no rational basis.

Rulers don't necessarily aim to be arbitrary and capricious. Instead, they aim for flexibility. And maximum flexibility in power is the ability to change direction suddenly, on a whim, and/or without reason.

In other pieces, I refer to this as evil rule [*7] and the craft of convincing subjects to accept such rule [*8] as wicked rule.

The Greatest Obstacle to Power
As power is the ability to make people do what we want, their resistance is our obstacle. How do you make an employee stay at his job or a denizen of your jurisdiction undergo a medical procedure when he doesn't want to? The obvious answer: incentives and punishments. But what if subjects continue to say no?

A faithless man is more likely to comply after a credible threat to end his life than a bribe with a pallet of gold. And rulers want to save scarce resources. Thus, the ability to coerce is a greater power than the ability to reward, assuming these tools can make subjects do what we please.

But there can still be principled but faithless men who will still say no. We all recognize that our lives will end at some point. What use is it to sacrifice our principles and live the remainder of our lives in defeat in exchange for a few more years or decades on this Earth? Even if there is no afterlife, why continue to live as a slave? Hence, some men will accept death instead of complying.

What if the lives of loved ones are threatened? A faithless man might not want to sacrifice the futures of his children and other loved ones based on his own principles. Men of any faith, who believe in an afterlife, however, may recognize that the souls of their loved ones will transcend life and still refuse to comply.

What if rulers attack the man's reputation or, even worse, that of his whole family and future posterity? If a ruler has the ability to control the opinion of all present and future generations of the man, to make him hated for all time by the vast majority of people, the man may value his legacy more than post-mortal rewards in a plane of existence after death.

But Christianity teaches something unique in this scenario, offering a tool to assist men rejecting wicked rule. The bible teaches, specifically at Matthew [*9], that rewards and fame on Earth matter not, and all rewards that matter are those that make the Kingdom of Heaven accessible to us. Specifically, compared to other religions, Christianity focuses on modesty and rejecting material rewards and status, including reputation, on Earth.

Thus, if a Christian believes he is being controlled by the wicked, he will understand his duty to reject that control. It won't matter what the ruler bribes him with or what he threatens him with. He and his whole family could be tortured and killed while he would be made to understand a thousand generations after his death would be taught to hate him as the most shameful being of all time or cringe at him being the most embarrassingly inept loser of all time. He would still refuse to comply.

Unique to the Christian is the understanding that legacy in the eyes of men does not matter, only legacy in the eyes of God does. And the threat of destruction of our mortal legacy is the last, greatest, and most powerful mortal tool our rulers have to control us. And to a strong Christian, this tool should hold no power over him.

Thus, strong Christians are beyond the abilities of rulers to control with maximal authority. These Christians are, in a sense, beyond the scope of control by the wicked.

The weaker the Christians in a jurisdiction are, the lesser in quality of opposition for rulers. The fewer the Christians in a jurisdiction are, the lesser in quantity of opposition for rulers.

Recall, rulers want the most in size, scope, security, and quality in their power: a global empire that can be ruled at the rulers' discretion. In this goal, Christians are the strongest obstacle. This is why you see constant messaging in our popular culture subverting Christian teachings to weaken the quality of the faith and discouraging future adherents to the faith. Both the quality and quantity of Christianity must be diminished as much as possible.

So, what is the best way to oppose wicked rule? You may not be a Christian yourself, and this blog is not about proselytizing or converting anyone to any religion. But understand how important Christianity is in maintaining a civilization resistant to evil and destroying anti-civilizations rooted in evil.

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FOOTNOTES
[*1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYnnm3L12fA
[*2] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/9228257/Like-baboons-our-elected-leaders-are-literally-addicted-to-power.html
[*3] https://michael-hudson.com/2018/08/and-forgive-them-their-debts/
[*4] https://stratagemsoftheright.blogspot.com/2021/06/rule-of-wicked-kind-predation-of-empathy.html
[*5] https://stratagemsoftheright.blogspot.com/2021/10/what-you-should-know-before-opposing-us.html
[*6] https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/the-agency-a-history-of-the-cia.html
[*7] https://stratagemsoftheright.blogspot.com/2021/05/how-would-you-know-if-world-was-ruled.html
[*8] https://stratagemsoftheright.blogspot.com/2021/02/what-is-wicked.html
[*9] https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Matthew-Chapter-1/