Guest Post by Bill Bonner
Type Swiss President “Doris Leuthard” into Google.
You will get about 450,000 results.
Do the same with Donald Trump, and the number is closer to 396 million.
That’s 87,900% more references.
The world’s press is as fascinated by President Trump as it is indifferent to President Leuthard.
What will Ms. Leuthard do next?
What outrageous new tweet will she send out? Whom will she attack?
No one seems to care…
And yet, though we have never met either one of them, we have a suspicion.
Ms. Leuthard is probably decent, earnest, and wholesome. She has never killed anyone, and it would take her a while to even get used to insulting people.
Mr. Trump, on the other hand, is in another category. Impervious to ridicule as to the fires of hell, he is especially well suited for the role he has been given.
Grand Chutzpah
In Switzerland, the president barely ever sells a newspaper and rarely chases the child molesters and fallen sports heroes from the headlines.
When Ms. Leuthard appears on the TV, people go out for a drink. They don’t know and don’t care who she is.
Because it doesn’t matter.
Switzerland has no troops stationed in foreign countries. It does not seek to slay dragons on the sands of Syria or Iraq.
The Swiss president doesn’t presume to restrict travel, threaten to cut off funds to cities, or propose more money for crony industries.
Political power in Switzerland is local. It is constrained by local assemblies, local voters, and local customs.
Much like the U.S. before the War Between the States, Switzerland’s states, called cantons, still have power of their own.
It’s one of the most decentralized systems in the world. There is no “Swiss” national debt; each canton issues its own debt. And each suffers the consequences if it’s not repaid.
You will remember the general principle of “truth” in public affairs: It diminishes by the square of the distance from its source.
The farther you get from the real events in time and space… and the grander the chutzpah of the events in question… the less likely they are to have any real meaning.
That is why local politics – as idiotic as they are – are still less gaudy and baroque than national politics. Bavaria didn’t invade Poland; Germany did.
Anne Arundel County, Maryland, didn’t come up with Obamacare; Congress (aided and abetted by thousands of industry insiders) did.
A local voter is too close to the facts to put up with much nonsense. He sees the humbuggery like a plumber sees a sewer: He knows how it works and knows what’s in it.
And he knows he will have to pay for it. He is also close enough to his leaders to see their flaws. He has never met one who wasn’t either an empty suit or an immodest jackass.
The “truth” is right in front of his eyes.
Losing Teeth
But today, the U.S. is no longer a confederation of states like Switzerland nor a modest republic like Finland or Argentina.
Like crystal meth, the thrill of empire got into it a long time ago. Now it can’t say no to the drug, even though it can’t stop scratching and its teeth are falling out.
An empire needs an emperor. Only a tiny percentage of the population will ever get to know him personally. But everyone is expected to care about what he does.
This has implications all up and down the line.
Empires follow different rules and different patterns. The average citizen has little knowledge of what goes on in the halls and broom closets of power… and little influence over them.
This leaves power in the hands of a special group of insiders – the Deep State.
Collectively, this group might see that the empire is headed for destruction. But individually, the foxes, zombies, and cronies who make up the Deep State have little incentive to change their behavior.
It is like a group of addicts all spending money from the same credit card. They may see that they are going broke, but no one wants to be the one to cut back.
Competing Factions
Over time, the insiders tend to sort themselves into competing factions.
The conservatives against the liberals… Republicans against Democrats… FBI against CIA… Congress against the White House… the military against Wall Street… and so forth.
Thus deadlocked by internal power struggles, the strongman leader – the emperor – grows taller… and more cunning.
No, he cannot change the fundamental direction of the society, its government, or its economy. That would put him at odds with the entire Deep State. But he can tip the balance in favor of one group of insiders over another.
That is why Mr. Donald J. Trump is perhaps the perfect leader for this period in America’s history. Neither “conservative” nor “liberal”… and unbounded by the Constitution, traditional party loyalty, or ideology… he is the man the empire needs.
He can promise carrots or threaten sticks. He can offer inducements and emoluments to one Deep State faction on Monday… and mistweet them on Tuesday.
He can rouse his supporters in Cleveland one day… and stab them in the back in Washington the next.
And day by day, the empire weakens. In a meth addict, the brain is the first to go. The heart, lungs, and liver follow.
Editor’s note: Highly decorated General Dwight D. Eisenhower first warned the American public about the Deep State. He did it during the farewell address for his second term as President in January of 1961.
Ike’s farewell address also served as a warning to JFK, who would succeed him as President. And JFK tried to take the Deep State head on…
A short while later, JFK was assassinated. We don’t know exactly who did it or why, but we do know that he was the last President to challenge the Deep State directly.
Recently, Doug Casey’s longtime friend and colleague Bill Bonner issued an alarming video on this topic, including some footage from Eisenhower’s farewell address. You can watch this new video by clicking here.
amusingly enough we have been warned since the inception of this nation, by the very founders in fact as they fought so hard to let the people know freedom is only yours if willing to fight for it. early on one president was able to oust the bankers, if only for his terms as president and even declared martial law to protect the republic (and indeed gave the power back to the people). but as we have progressed the powerful have sold out or been coerced and interestingly enough have been quoted , “what have I done”… have openly stolen from the people … and have atempted to make “amends” by warning their predecessors (as if their weakness and fear could somehow be salvaged by the strength taken to give a warning to the next)… there are so few who can hold positions of power and at the pinnacle of the world and scrutiny. empires that were wrought were done so by men willing to die for those dreams of empire and the power was almost an aside and not fully realized until conquest was “complete” … empires are lost by those riding coattails and fighting for the scraps along the way. we have been a nation of scrap gatherers for many generations.
When we began as a nation, US House of Representatives apportionment was about 1 House member for every 30,000 or so citizens (yes, blacks were counted as 2/3, women and those under 21 could not vote, etc.). It boiled down to about 1 for every 5,000 or so voters. Today, there is 1 House member for every 750,000 citizens (more in some states like Montana that hasn’t hit population totals to justify a second House member). Back when the country started, the Federal Government did NOTHING and impacted NOBODY. Today, according to “Three Felonies a Day – How the Feds Target the Innocent,” there are SO MANY laws, rules, regulations, etc. that EVERY American commits about 3 felonies/federal crimes a day whether they know it or not. So not only has our government gotten way out of control, but we have NO real representation to speak of (coincidence? I think not). And disgustingly, though the Constitution defines the original Apportionment numbers, NO Amendment to the Constitution was EVER adopted to change this number – just legislation by the two-part oligarchy. Then in 1911, the Apportionment Act FIXED the number of TOTAL representatives at 435, and our representation has been declining ever since. Seriously, how can ANYONE say that 320,000,000 can be represented by 435 people or that 435 people have the RIGHT to make life-altering decisions for 320,000,000+ people. Time to end this charade, restore 50 sovereign states (as step number 1 of about 1000 or more), and stop pretending that we have anything close to “representative” government.
“Ms. Leuthard is probably decent, earnest, and wholesome”
Get the fuck out – she is a political whore who doesn’t respect the Swiss consitutioon and indirectly finances NATO and NWO