Political Power is its Own Reason for Being

The Golden Age Cover The heading to this article won’t bear much scrutiny in its logical construction.

The real story is that men, typically but not exclusively men, seek political power because they like being powerful.

But again no: those who choose elective politics as their realm of interest MUST seek power simply because something in them desperately, at any cost, needs to achieve it.

There. This is what’s revealed in Gore Vidal’s fascinating, necessary, semi-fictionalized history of the USA beginning in 1939, “The Golden Age.”

I say “necessary” because it shows that the general angst, the cultural and, therefore, political divisions in American society today are no worse and probably less heated and intense, even less dangerous, than during the period covered.

In the novel are expositions on the sins and foibles of humanity, including false witness, assassination, espionage, conspiracy, perfidy, cuckoldry, etc., at the highest levels of “polite” society and national and international politics.

In that many of the main fictional characters were owners of newspapers and reporters, we learn of the depth and extent of the intersections of the publishers and editors of the press, the “talking heads” (when they were newspaper columnists instead of today’s TV personalities), politicians, advertisers, and the general elite with whom all these are entwined.

It is telling that, throughout the novel, reverential reference is made by several characters to Henry Adams (1838-1918), the grandson and great-grandson of presidents, who also wrote about Washington, D.C. and national politics. I reviewed his book “The Education of Henry Adams,” heading the article. “A Friend in Power is a Friend Lost,” which conclusion Adams reached after a lifetime of deliberately “learning” about American politics and power.

There are many reviews and commentaries on this novel available on the Internet so I will not summarize it here. To show how the author had the insight necessary to use real historical characters, intertwined with the main, fictional characters, here is an excerpt from the afterword starting page 465 in my paperback edition:

Goe Vidal, 1983

…I had lived through the period… I knew a number of the historical figures that I describe. Also, as one who had grown up in political Washington, D.C., I was an attentive listener to the many voices which sound and resound in that whispering gallery.

Much of the narrative is between and among fictional elite whose lives are so far removed from mine, and probably yours, that it seems almost like a fairytale of power, privilege, and social ease. It is tempting to skim over these conversations and easy to lose track of the complicated relationships among them all, but these scenes are instructive as to the lesser uses of power, the world that really makes or allows things to happen.

I recommend “The Golden Age” to provide perspective and balance for the seemingly chaotic times in which we currently live.

I have read other novels by Vidal, most recently (and for the second time), “Creation,” which I also recommend.

5 Responses to Political Power is its Own Reason for Being

Eric Gandy says:

July 15, 2018 at 2:18 pm

Thanks for the review Ron. I reacted to the following in your intro: “The real story is that men, typically but not exclusively men, seek political power because they like being powerful.” I would rather say that the like feeling powerful, often have a neurotic need to feel important, where their own needs are their driving force.

Pingback: Political Power is its Own Reason for Being | budbromley
budbromley – USA – Bud is a retired life sciences executive. Bud's entrepreneurial leadership exceeded three decades. He was the senior business development, marketing and sales executive at four public corporations, each company a supplier of analytical and life sciences instrumentation, software, consumables and service. Prior to those positions, his 19 year career in Hewlett-Packard Company's Analytical Products Group included worldwide sales and marketing responsibility for Bioscience Products, Global Accounts and the International Olympic Committee, as well as international management assignments based in Japan and Latin America. Bud has visited and worked in more than 65 countries and lived and worked in 3 countries.

budbromley says:

November 24, 2018 at 7:52 am

This is really good Ron.

- Ron Pavellas says:
  
  December 13, 2018 at 5:47 pm
  
  Thanks a lot, Bud…
  
Benjamin David Steele – 114 N. Gilbert St. Iowa City IA – Born and bred moderate Midwesterner who spent many years in the South in the latter half of my youth, leaning toward the radical left but with positions mostly in common with the majority of Americans, hate politics and yet obsessed with trying to understand all the stupidity, not ideological but strong defender of what I consider good and true, a seeker who is never satisfied, Fortean and zetetic, curious and questioning, gnostic and agnostic, student of human nature, enjoy learning about social sciences such as psychology and cultural studies, fan of both silly and dark humor, fan of both weird and dark imagination, idealistic with tendencies toward philosophical pessimism, often depressed and at times cynical, too serious for my own good, liberal in attitude and open in mind, constantly seeking balance between the ideals of truth and love, love reading both fiction and non-fiction, a lover of nature and animals especially cats

Benjamin David Steele says:

January 2, 2019 at 12:29 am

I have yet to read Gore Vidal. But he has long been on my list of authors that I want to read.

“…the general angst, the cultural and, therefore, political divisions in American society today are no worse and probably less heated and intense, even less dangerous, than during the period covered.”

That is my sense of history. For all the problems we now face, it isn’t quite yet close to what was seen many times before in this country.

The populist and progressive eras were of great tumult and many feared revolt or else coup, from the bonus army to the business plot. It was also a time of major labor organizing and race wars, the latter having been literal military-style battles in the streets fought by WWI veterans. Then there were the assassinations, bomb-throwings, and other terrorism.

Even that period didn’t reach the fever pitch that built up to the Civil War and before that the American Revolution. We forget what peaceful times we live in, even with present terrorism. But the peaceful times won’t last.