Hi, everyone.
I'm sorry about writing about INTJs and politics again rather than doing something developmental like I said I would, but I only just started writing such a post yesterday and I was pretty groggy as I did so, so it wasn't very good, plus I can make the scope of it much bigger. This post however, my ass was on fire when I wrote it, so I think it's better. So what is this post?
Well, on Thanksgiving we had my uncle over and he's always talking politics. Always has some idea on how to make the current situation better; don't we all? Anyway, one of the systems of government he disparaged was theocracy which led to an argument between my Old Man and I because don't disparage theocracies and I don't think they're such a bad idea so long as the right religion is in power. In fact, as I see it, religion already is in power. Let me explain.
See, I don't believe in separation of church and state. Now, when I say that, what I mean is I don't believe in the existence of separation of church and state. Why not? Because if a person votes along the lines of their conscience, and their conscience is based off a particular morality, then the church, by proxy of the power of the people, is involved in the affairs of the state, and ergo, they are not separate. And ergo, we have a theocracy. The church doesn't need to be in "official" control for a theocracy to exist; they only need to "possess" power over the hearts and minds of the people.
This is one of the reasons why I never want to hold public office, and not because of the power of the church, but because all the power of the state is actually in the hands of the people and not in elected office. Some may say that the power of the people, by a majority, put me in office, but that same power can take me out. Presidents, senators, representatives, etc. are a reflection of the attitudes, beliefs, and will of the people; not the power itself. Trump is president because we allow him to be. But no one has to acknowledge him as president. He's only president so long as we say he is.
This reminds me of an argument I had with a friend of mine before the 2008 election. He wanted me to vote for Obama, and I wasn't going to. Nothing could make me. He felt so strongly that voting for Obama was the right thing to do, he pestered and pestered and pestered. And I begged him to stop, to which he said, "No, I beg you to vote for Obama!" That straw broke the camel's back and I unfriended (< autocorrect had nothing to say about that) him from Facebook. He just couldn't get it through his head that I wasn't going to vote along political lines that are contrary to my core beliefs. Thus, so long as theology, of any sort, is the guiding philosophy behind people's voting and political stances, I'll never believe in the existence of separation of church and state. And to ask people to do so is asinine to the highest extent because you're asking people to act contrarily to their consciences, and that's not something people just do.
Getting back to my father and what this has to do with Lenin, my father kept making the argument that all theocracies have failed because corruption eventually seeps in, to which I argued that it wouldn't if you put the right zealots in power and had huge punishments for those who were corrupt. Makes sense to me. To which my Old Man said to me, "Well, in theory, yes. But in theory, communism works." And then I had my ah-ha moment.
Some of you may remember that I wrote a post about INTJs and politics, about how INTJs identify: conservative, liberal, or independent. And for the life of me, I could not fathom how any INTJ can identify as liberal. I still can't. But by looking at the ideals of theocracy and communism, and seeing that in a perfect world, they would both work, I was able to get an insight into Lenin's mind. See, he commented on politics from a perfectionistic ideology, and I've said somewhere, if not on this blog then in my head, that the reason why communism doesn't work is because it doesn't take into account the human element, that is to say that humans are imperfect; they are weak, lazy, tempted, greedy, etc. But the reason why Lenin continued on with his philosophy, and the reason why I maintain mine, is because we're both looking at both forms of government from a perfectionistic angle, which is a very INTJ thing to do--we're obsessed with perfection! If you're not perfect, or you're not striving to be perfect, you're trash! (You may remove yourself from my sight.)
The other force at play here is "what's good for the goose, is good for the gander." If it works for me, there's no reason why it shouldn't work for you. And that's the philosophy that hilariously and sadly drives all sides of the political spectrum: "If you stubborn assh*les just did things our way, there'd be no problems whatsoever!" That's basically the philosophy that my Obama thumping friend believed in. And this is one of the reasons why subjectivity is such a dangerous concept. The idea that you can't judge someone because they're doing what's right by them. No! Of course you can! I don't know if it's because I'm an INTJ or a Catholic, probably both, but I believe in objectivity; I believe in a single, absolute, all-encompassing (catholic) truth that everyone can live by. The scary thing is that someone's right. And we better hope it's someone who is merciful and understanding, otherwise most of us are f*cked.
Anyway, I still maintain that so long as we allow our consciences to guide our voting, we live in a theocracy, regardless of where, how, or by what your conscience was formed. And I still believe that a theocracy, if done right with the right religion in power, is the best form of government. But I will admit that the "done right" condition is a perfect condition and doesn't exist in our world because a lot of people are, unfortunately, inherently flawed and content to be so. "Perfectly imperfect," as the smartasses say. So, there will never be a Catholic theocracy, but we did come close back in Medieval Europe when all the ruling monarchs yielded to the authority of the Pope which, I admit, wasn't always a good thing. (Fun fact: There's a good chance I'm related to Rodrigo Borgia who was pope during the Renaissance and the antagonist of Assassin's Creed II.)
Anyway, that's it for this week. Good news though, I am planning on writing more INTJ posts in the future, probably some time in the new year. I need a break from some of my content, (the RWBY content) which means I'll be able to focus more on other stuff that I think would behoove this blog to focus on (INTJ stuff). And that stuff will help me write more books which puts more of your green in my blue.
Keep writing, my friends.
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