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And Bolivar and Manuela would have had statues built to them by the TON at
once as soon as agents could get to Paris with orders from an adoring
populace.
"Bolivar, come rule us!" should have gotten an "I don't see any unfree
South America. When you see a French or Spanish army coming, come back and
tell me."
That would have worked. And this poor couple would have died suitably
adored . in the sanctity of glory and (perhaps more importantly) in their
own beds, not "in a ditch".
And if they had had to go on ruling they could have declared a new game
of "pay the soldiers and officers with Royalist land". And when that was a
gone game, "Oust the Church and give its land to the poor friendly
Indians".
You can't stand bowing back of the footlights forever with no show even
if you are quite an actor. Somebody else can make better use of any stage
than even the handsomest actor who will not use it.
Man is too aberrated to understand at least 7 things about Power:
1. Life is lived by lots of people. And if you lead you must either let
them get on with it or lead them on with it actively.
2. When the game or the show is over, there must be a new game or a new
show. And if there isn't somebody else is jolly well going to start one
and if you won't let anyone do it the game will become "getting you".
3. If you have power use it or delegate it or you sure won't have it
long.
4. When you have people use them or they will soon become most unhappy
and you won't have them any more.
5. When you move off a point of power, pay all your obligations on the
nail, empower all your friends completely and move off with your pockets
full of artillery, potential blackmail on every erstwhile rival,
unlimited funds in your private account and the addresses of experienced
assassins and go live in Bulgravia and bribe the police. And even then
you may not live long if you have retained one scrap of domination in
any camp you do not now control or if you even say, "I favour Politician
Jiggs." Abandoning power utterly is dangerous indeed.
But we can't all be leaders or figures strutting in the limelight and so
there's more to know about this:
When you're close to power get some delegated to you, enough to do your
job and protect yourself and your interests, for you can be shot, fellow,
shot, as the position near power is delicious but dangerous, dangerous
always, open to the taunts of any enemy of the power who dare not really
boot the power but can boot you. So to live at all in the shadow or employ
of a power you must yourself gather and USE enough power to hold your own-
without just nattering to the power to "kill Pete", in straightforward or
more suppressive veiled ways to him as these wreck the power that supports
yours. He doesn't have to know all the bad news and if he's a power really
he won't ask all the time, "What are all those dead bodies doing at the
door?" And if you are clever, you never let it be thought HE killed them-
that weakens you and also hurts the power source. "Well, boss, about all
those dead bodies, nobody at all will suppose you did it. She over there,
those pink legs sticking out, didn't like me." "Well," he'll say if he
really is a power, "why are you bothering me with it if it's done and you
did it. Where's my blue ink?" Or "Skipper, three shore patrolmen will be
along soon with your cook, Dober, and they'll want to tell you he beat up