The House Always Wins

The fever of revolution is sweeping the world. Syria, UK, U.S. (tea parties), China – you name it. Nobody is immune. There’s a restlessness loose on the globe. It’s born out of a growing intransigence on all sides; a failure to cooperate. Walid Phares is right: Every uprising has its own stamp; its own individual character.

It might always have been so. It’s in embedded in our DNA: sons rebelling against fathers; fathers rebelling against the State. What is different now is that the chucks have been jettisoned – America has turned coat - and the festooned chariot, carrying the idol, is hurtling madly through the madas (streets around a Hindu temple), mowing down worshippers and rogue priests alike in its pitiless path. There’s no telling where it all ends.

With no chucks to stop it, the chariot will tip over or crash into a building, tallying more victims. The ghee and curd soaked idol will lie shattered in the dusty street for all to see. Like it or not, the chucks were important – as is the law and leadership. With the idol lying broken in the dirt, the time will have come to begin again - from scratch. It’s not that we’re not capable of it, but it’s a long hard road.

It’s foolish to say that leadership has always to be a certain way. Bush was wrong to insist on ‘democracy' everywhere. It works for Switzerland, but you can’t say it’ll work for Zimbabwe.

Even Switzerland is restless now. For the first time in Swiss history, the celebration of its Independence Day on historic Ruetli Meadow was threatened with cancellation. Switzerland - as most nations - is struggling with the issue of immigration. They fear disturbances by neo-Nazi groups and were unwilling to pay for additional security. In the end, private enterprise promised to donate the money needed to keep order and reassure folks.

What struck me about the video in John's post (Daraa, Syria uprising) is that people spoke English. They were clearly distressed. Why did they speak English? Answer: for American TV, of course; to let Obama know that they are in trouble. The news obviously hasn’t reached them yet. They may also have been preparing themselves for jobs in America – where the streets are paved with ...debt. And, again, the news hasn’t reached them yet – that America has become a ward of the same system that Syria has.

The rich, the powerful, and the bored use the world’s grievances like dice at a crap table, hoping to best their friends and walk off with the prize. But time and time again we learn what every Las Vegas pauper already knows: that the house always wins.
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Watch episode# 2; parts 1 and 2 (Temple Cart) of Louis Malle’s “Phantom India” on You Tube to see what I’m talking about. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIGodDxlnVo ('cut and paste' into your browser.)

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