The Man Who Would Be King

Several posts ago, I was considering something my friend Tom questioned about Americans and royalty.

This morning I came across an Asia Times article on the Putin/Yukos story that describes royalty in this fashion:

Until the French Revolution of 1789 halted the practice, the French kings pursued the idea of buying the loyalty of those powerful enough to threaten their rule by handing out gifts of state assets. Productive agricultural land was the most important of these, but import concessions and commodity monopolies were also awarded. In addition, the kings sold titles of nobility, and in return they exempted the titleholders from paying most of the taxes of the realm. That's what an aristocracy is made of - the right to exemption from tax, traded for a royal bribe, and the promise not to take up arms against the monarch.

That certainly describes Marie Antoinette Bush's actions. And, to be fair, the actions of presidents before him.

It is easy to understand that the more insecure kings are, the more tax exemptions they dispense, at the same time as their expenditure requirements - for armies to protect themselves from rebellion - grow apace.

Although this article is not about the U.S., those remarks can certainly apply.

As for the actual point, it is describing Putin as "trying to dismantle the tax exemptions" of the oligarchs and redistribute the wealth to the people.

When the news first came out that Putin had jailed Khodorkovsky, I wondered if he were trying to move the country's political balance back toward socialism. And Al Giordano took that squarely into the absolute column. This Asia Times article calls it the same way: Putin re-establishing a socialist order.

I don't know if that's Putin's intention or just a consequence of blocking the oligarchs' power to dethrone him. Either way, if he is successful, it will be a point scored for the "common people".

It will also be a point against Putin in the eyes of many Americans, including the Clown Prince and his royal advisors.

As I said before - I don't think we are all that far removed from monarchy.

....but hey, you think what you want....you will anyway.