@PallasRiot @violetmadder @HeavenlyPossum
Imagine a King and a Seneschal; the King enjoys all the trappings of royalty and wealth. They have impunity, and the right to commit heinous acts without retribution - to a point. The Seneschal's job is to manage the King's behavior so it doesn't go too far (think Musk's C-suite at SpaceX) and, when they can't do that, manage the fall-out so the rest of the peerage are not literally tracked down and swung from a tree.
Both are powerful....
@PallasRiot @violetmadder @HeavenlyPossum
...and in some ways the Seneschal who handles all of the day-to-day things is even *more* powerful, because they *know* all the legitimate pathways to wield power, whereas the King is a fop who sometimes chokes a girl to death and has to go to the country estate for a while so things can cool down.
Our political class are the Seneschals of our oligarchic class, under neofascism. The oligarchs are impunity and ultimate freedom - to a point...
@PallasRiot @violetmadder @HeavenlyPossum
...beyond which they have to be thrown to the wolves so the wolves don't start sniffing around and finding all the *other* atrocities committed in less flagrant ways.
For ~50 years, the Seneschals have successfully driven the people into penury while funneling most money and power toward the Royals. There have been a few near misses, but mostly it has worked. Their tools are called "neoliberalism".
All the Royals have to do is not fuck it up...
@PallasRiot @violetmadder @HeavenlyPossum
...but, just like a population protected from mass death by disease by vaccines and clean water will forget what disease can do to them, sheltered oligarchs will forget *why* they don't just wander around shooting people in the back or raping kids on television. Are they not impunious?
Trump and the technofash represent that kind of oligarch, who have forgotten what FDR had to do (against their will, lol) to save their asses 100 years ago.
John