The author rightfully regards the kidnapping of a Malian political figure as preparing the way for the favorite strategy of Empire operatives--holding of elections to consolidate Empire control. You see, agents of the One Percent have based the legitimacy of their rule on this premise: elections = democracy. They learned how to successfully manage elections over the past two and a half centuries in the US in order to achieve political results favorable to the interests of their class.
To better understand this, we must re-visit history of the US. Briefly, a nucleus of propertied people mostly lead by Alexander Hamilton, Robert Morris the banker, and many land speculators such as George Washington in the late 1700s saw the vast potential of the North American continent to provided them with wealth and power. The main obstacle was the British crown that wanted to keep North America as a colony to serve the needs of the mother country. The latter saw it as only a source of raw materials to feed the burgeoning industrial machine of England. Hence, the need for separation and independence from Britain.
Faced with a powerful British army and navy, the colonial leaders needed to get the support of the vast majority of the population in order to achieve independence. The vast majority consisted largely of small farmers, indentured servants, small merchants, some skilled craftsmen, and slaves. The colonial leaders enlisted the support of orators such as Patrick Henry, pamphleteers and ideologists such as Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson to spread new, inspiring ideas about government. The most revolutionary idea of all was formulated by Jefferson who wrote in the Declaration of Independence the following key principles:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. [my emphasis]The central idea of democracy as defined here inspired millions across the globe ever since: the legitimacy of political arrangements are rooted in the consent of the people! No, they were not divine creations of God or Allah, they were created by people, and should serve the needs of all the people, or they are illegitimate. Of course, the new American ruling class had completely different ideas, but they were stuck with this belief system after the successful conclusion of the Revolutionary War. Notice that in the subsequent drafting of the Constitution, they made no mention of this concept in its original version. (Thomas Jefferson was conveniently away in Paris as Ambassador to France.) Because of so much popular opposition to this original version, they were forced to add the Bill of Rights amendments to get it passed by the majority of states. Jefferson returned during this period and was instrumental in formulating the amendments.
However, the rights under these amendments have largely been ignored. Only seven years after the adoption of the Constitution with the Bill of Rights, the Sedition Act of 1798 (see this and this) was passed by the Federalists which stated the following:
To write, print, utter or publish, or cause it to be done, or assist in it, any false, scandalous, and malicious writing against the government of the United States, or either House of Congress, or the President, with intent to defame, or bring either into contempt or disrepute, or to excite against either the hatred of the people of the United States, or to stir up sedition, or to excite unlawful combinations against the government, or to resist it, or to aid or encourage hostile designs of foreign nations.And, in our own time we have witnessed the final attack on these rights since the 9/11 tragedy with the passage of the so-called Patriot Acts.
The political history of the United States has been largely a history of the development of methods to maintain only the appearance of this ideology, but otherwise insure the pursuit of wealth, power, and happiness for the One Percent propertied class. Elections became a primary vehicle for maintaining this illusion. And, they learned over the many years since then how to manage elections to serve their class interests.
