Power trip
I'm reading Tolstoi's "War and Peace" for the third or fourth time. My favorite part has always been the last volume, specially the second part. During these chapters Tolstoi presents us with some considerations about history and men.
Every time i read it i find new things, i guess because i have more life lived. The point that captured my attention this time was about power. The power that makes history. Tolstoi tells us that, if we put aside the the more mystical/theological approaches to the behaviour of men, we must assume that power is the force behind history. Then he goes by defining power as the ability that, implicitly or explicitly, people give some to lead them.
I find this very interesting. After being in Russia i can understand those words with a clarity that i didn't had before. Russia is driven by power. The leaders are implicitly empowered and followed. Revolutions aside, everybody knows is place in the fish tank. They have a tradition of centuries to teach them. America, on the other hand, is the place where nobody knows is place. Everybody his new, everybody is fighting for affirmation. That's why they are a democracy, they need to explicitly empower rulers.
Let me tell you a story. Because of my ocidental culture i was very shocked when i heard that President Putin was going to change constitution so he could be elected one more time. I was in Kirgistan at the time. I asked some people i worked with what they tough about it. They looked at me as if they didn't understood my point. I tried to explain that i found very disturbing the changing of the most fundamental laws of a country so they could suit the needs of one individual. The answer was enlightening, "Why he shouldn't if he can ?"
I find this much more transparent than all our democracies.
Every time i read it i find new things, i guess because i have more life lived. The point that captured my attention this time was about power. The power that makes history. Tolstoi tells us that, if we put aside the the more mystical/theological approaches to the behaviour of men, we must assume that power is the force behind history. Then he goes by defining power as the ability that, implicitly or explicitly, people give some to lead them.
I find this very interesting. After being in Russia i can understand those words with a clarity that i didn't had before. Russia is driven by power. The leaders are implicitly empowered and followed. Revolutions aside, everybody knows is place in the fish tank. They have a tradition of centuries to teach them. America, on the other hand, is the place where nobody knows is place. Everybody his new, everybody is fighting for affirmation. That's why they are a democracy, they need to explicitly empower rulers.
Let me tell you a story. Because of my ocidental culture i was very shocked when i heard that President Putin was going to change constitution so he could be elected one more time. I was in Kirgistan at the time. I asked some people i worked with what they tough about it. They looked at me as if they didn't understood my point. I tried to explain that i found very disturbing the changing of the most fundamental laws of a country so they could suit the needs of one individual. The answer was enlightening, "Why he shouldn't if he can ?"
I find this much more transparent than all our democracies.
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