By DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015) — Allow THE PLANET to play philosopher and political scientist, a morphed character revived from the 19th century who still can hold court today.

Democracy, so the introduction to old TV show The Defenders goes, is a bad form of government, but all the others are so much worse. Fact is, all forms of governance share two co-abiding dualities. They are (pick one) all equally effective and ineffective, equally beneficial and detrimental, equally “good” and “evil.”

Let us explain the apparent contradiction. In theory, democracy, republicanism, monarchy, dictatorship, authoritarianism, patriarchy, matriarchy, theocracy, oligarchy, and technocracy all work to perfection. Hobbes built his Leviathan utopia on absolute power concentrated in the hands of one man. Jefferson and the Founding Fathers wanted power dispersed to the people but into the hands of their representatives. The Greeks wanted pure democracy: one man one vote. Marx wanted a classless society built on economic egalitarianism. In theory, each of these radically different systems for devising a ‘social contract” work flawlessly.

Ah, but humans live in “the real world,” a physical space articulated by fleeting time. There’s the rub. Our species is, to be kind, yet a work in progress. In practice, the merits of theories of government must fend for traction. And what do we see, in practice, with each system of government ever devised? They all get “done in” by the one irrational human quality that proves 100% fatal. THE PLANET speaks of greed in its many forms: avarice, competitiveness, acquisitiveness, covetousness, rapacity, and materialism. No system of governance has ever been able to cure the human heart of this leaning.

The Doom of the Species

Greed has been the doom of this sorry species called humanity since civilization’s first spear of light penetrated the prehistoric heart.

We say this as the long introduction to the aftermath of the city council’s vote on building a new Taconic High School. The issue was never about education, only about politics. One common theme in this entire episode has been an illustration of the extent to which representative democracy, a perfect theory in the abstract, has been so thoroughly been destroyed in Pittsfield and in practice by the special-interest lobby we call The Suits.

When we mention this small and elite patrician class, most everyone knows what and who we mean, except the innocent, the ignorant or, more likely, those who cannot admit the truth because of their own compromised state. For example on Facebook, Howard Herman, the hackneyed sports scribe of The Boring Broadsheet, responded to our reference of The Suits with a crack about them being a new punk band. As humor, it was faintly funny in a paint-by-the-numbers way. As revelation, however, it exquisitely illustrated the power dynamic just referenced.

Herman is not innocent nor is he ignorant. He is, however, advanced in age for the workforce and without options for employment elsewhere, particularly in journalism (or what passes for it). He thus has no choice but to “toe the line” and play the game. For someone in his sad position, “playing ball” is the “smart” thing — a morally weak choice that would make a questionable compromise into a pragmatic understanding.

Works for some. It would never work at this address. THE PLANET has the fortitude and independence to admit that a silk purse and a sow’s ear are two entirely different objects. Those who have been compromised by The Suits (such as BB scribes and city councilors) must pretend they are one and the same. How lamentable.

With Nostradamian Accuracy, PLANET Predicts The Final Score

For this reason, BB writers and 11 councilors “had” to approve of new school. That’s also why THE PLANET was able to predict with Nostradamian accuracy the exact nature of this Done Deal. We called it from the start, playing our best Devil’s Advocate knowing the shutout pitched at the council meeting Tuesday night was long ago foreordained.

Perhaps the great and venerable Chuck Vincelette identified the nature of the vote the best, when he posted this on THE PLANET yesterday:

Eleven councilors performed that electoral calculus, and not one dared to show some spine. At least The Man From Mensa had the stones to resign from the farce early on, a heroic stance as events determined. All 11 councilors caved. Even those not up for re-election know they have 8 more months in office, and if they bucked The Suits on this one, life would get a lot more troublesome.

‘Winners’ and ‘Losers’ … So Called

To the “winners” we offer congratulations. Let whatever cost overruns run. Let whatever kickbacks begin kicking. Greed has in this past generation destroyed representative democracy in Pittsfield, and the helpless prisoners of political office — the mayor, the school superintendent, the council, the school committee, the SBNC, and the slaves toiling in the mainstream media — deserve our pity for being used so callously by their big-shot bosses.

To the “losers,” you have three options: (1) Accept defeat and move on … or out; (2) File a challenge with the appropriate state office as to the legal standing of the vote; or (3) begin a challenge based on the powers given to citizens in the charter.

As for THE PLANET, the bees are humming in Essex. Let those with ears hear.

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“Hey hey mama said the way you move gonna make you sweat gonna make you groove.” — Led Zeppelin, “Black Dog,” from Led Zeppelin IV, (1973).

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.