Monday, June 24, 2013

Jupiter: Political Power as the Measure of Our Importance

Olympianity is the oldest, most popular, yet least recognized religion in Olympia today. Almost all of us participate in this religion and devote ourselves to its six gods. Using their Roman names, these gods are (1) Jupiter, god of politics; (2) Mars, god of war; (3) Vulcan, god of technology; (4) Venus, goddess of sex; (5) Pluto, god of money; and (6) Bacchus, god of consumption.

One purpose of any god is to tell us who is important. The most important people in any society are those who stand closest to the gods and so are central. The least important are those who stand farthest away and so are marginal.

In this way the gods also tell us how important we are in relation to others. Some people are clearly our superiors, some are relatively our equals, and some are clearly our inferiors. We must show respect to those above us, we may show indifference toward those equal to us, and we can show contempt toward those below us.

Olympianity is the religion of power and Jupiter is the god of politics. Politics, to be clear, is the struggle between individuals for control of a group, the struggle between groups for control of society, and even the struggle between societies for control of the world.

Jupiter is clearly one of the most important gods of Olympia because almost all of us think that politically powerful rulers are very important people and that politically weak followers are worthy of contempt. Using political power as a measure of importance, national politicians and bureaucrats are most important, followed by regional and finally local officials.

Even locally, the mayor is politically most important. Local politicians come next. They are followed by smart energetic individuals who can organize interest groups and thereby gain greater political power than they would have alone.

At the bottom of all hierarchies come those without political power: people who are very young, very old, poor, sick, or imprisoned.

Copyright © 2013 by Steven Farsaci.
All rights reserved. Fair use encouraged.