The Physics of Power

I remember from college a basic tenet of power and politics that I cannot find in an attributable quote anywhere. I’m not sure if it’s just so commonly seen as truth that it doesn’t have to be attributed, or if it was something I noted in the words of my professors.

Like the physical law of inertia, there is a “law” by which power works:

Those in power will do anything they must in order to stay in power.

If I ever march at any protests, that would be what I’d write on my cardboard sign.

From the cheap seats, it looks like the white male capitalist hegemony is losing power, and is resorting to the toolbox of doing anything to keep it.

There are different kinds of power in the U.S. There’s political power, there’s financial power (which can also lead to political power), there’s the power of knowledge (actively being demonized and discredited), and there’s the power of the masses standing united for a cause.

The President of the United States is the epitome of the 1%.  He is building a cabinet of one-percenters who have financial power but are experiencing direct political power for the first time.  These are people who see the cracks in the citadel walls and who are doing everything to keep the empire running.

These are the desperate death throes of the old world order.

Yes, it’s scary. There are powerful people doing terrifying things. There are masses of less powerful people who are acting as the “external force” and pressure against this political inertia.