Tapping the Power in a Society: CG6

Using Wealth

Any political solution means using power to apply society's wealth in a new way.

Society’s leaders-CG5 are the instruments of power, but they are at the mercy of the power-CG6 available to them, and limited in what they can do by the amount of society's wealth-CG6.

Q: Where is the power and wealth-CG6 of society to be found?

A: In the people—where else could it be? Even land and mineral resources are best conceived as the property of the society rather than the state.

Q: How is power-CG6 manifested?

A: As political will—articulated as imperatives that brook no opposition.

Imperatives refer to widespread feelings in regard to choices and policies needed by the society and a readiness to spend money in their pursuit. There are two forms:

political imperatives (CG6¹)
&
social imperatives (CG6²).

The political will is unmistakable to politicians. It is what they attune to for their own survival. Because pressures from the people en masse cannot be resisted by politicians, they must be respected and channelled as constructively as possible.

Do governments ever «lack the political will»?

When politicians are said to «lack the political will» to do something necessary, the commentator is avoiding saying «the people lack the political will». If the people en masse want something, especially in a democracy (i.e. a post-Legitimist society), then it will happen.

At present, the usual situation is that the people do not want rational remedies. They much prefer blaming, demonizing, or escapist solutions that postpone suffering while worsening the underlying problem. As long as «the people» are willing to abdicate responsibility, dump on scapegoats and blame machinations of foreign powers, then political leaders, true to their role, will deliver on that political will.

Potential Confusions

The power of a society-CG6 flowing from the state of mind of the public is not measured by the size of an army or police force. Nor is it a function of the particular leaders that happen to be in public favour.

Individual Power (CG2)

Don’t confuse power-CG6 rooted in experiential imperatives of a population with leaders bringing pressure-CG2 to bear. All politicians can and must exert pressure. But no politician has a hand on the levers of power-CG6—as those who approach the summit of their ambitions quickly discover. Politicians, even in authoritarian regimes, exist largely at the behest of their public.
Read more on Individual Power (CG2).

Group Power (CL1)

Power-CG6 bears little resemblance to the power of particular powerful groups within society. (Discussed at the very beginning, and in political maturation, but emphasized in this section at G1¹).

In authoritarian societies, the most powerful groups are government (or «the party»), the military and the police. These three groups often get together to wield enormous coercive power. Such coercive power usually becomes increasingly overt as a government loses its capacity to control the population. Deployment of coercive powers tends to breed poverty and fear that weaken societies. At the extreme, coercion can wreak devastation: as Stalin did to the USSR, and as Mao and his Red Guards did in China during the cultural revolution.

By contrast, power-CG6 is potentially creative and can lead to prosperity and security.
Read more on Group Power (CG1).

Public Sentiment (CL5)

Sentiment is one of the influences on political choice. Whereas sentiment can be moulded, political will-CG6 refers to a well-spring of intrinsic power within a society flowing from deep common experiences and perceptions of reality. These are highly resistant to influence. So sometimes an imperative-CG6 seems to ignore public opinion e.g. the sentiment to continue slavery was strong during Lincoln’s presidency, but the imperatives of the time called for abolition of slavery.
Read more on the Social Context of Politics.

Power lies latent in a society, perhaps captured in the notion of its spirit and soul. Unless a nation’s spirit can be raised, nothing of great note can result.

Eruptions of Mass Power

Societal power may erupt suddenly (due to an event) or slowly as more and more people become aware of a particular matter that deeply affects them. By deeply, I refer to an emotional response that is as biological as it is psychological. So direct personal experience is relevant—either via seeing (e.g. on television), or suffering directly and in common (e.g. in an economic disaster), or knowing intimate details (e.g. via personal networks).

The will-CG6 is only a demand i.e. a potential for a solution. It must be concretised by policy work-CG4 and personalized and authorized by leadership arrangements-CG5 if anything is to happen.

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• More about the two types of imperatives.

Originally posted: August-2009; Last updated: 15-Nov-2010