Zero Sum and Political Powers: Citizens, Can They Ever Win?

At this time as I scanned the globe news, I saw a familiar picture which I have noticed on various occasions in news media. I saw in the CNN news article dated 19th December 2010, the bloody pictures of two dead men "reportedly killed by Ivorian police and army forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo" lying on one of the roads of Ivory Coast.  Causalities of yet one more political power struggle. What does the death of these two guys mean in a political power struggle game? Does it mean that the citizens of Ivory Coast will win at the finish of the day? Who will be the actual winners? Let us discover additional.

"Give Us a King to Judge Us"

Our exploration to the above concerns can begin with the story from the Bible in 1 Samuel 8:3-22. In the days of Samuel, when Israel was under theocratic rule, the Israelites desired a king to rule over them. Now, Samuel was not in favor with their request. So he warned them about the expenses of rule by monarchy. He told them, how their sons and daughters would become the king's soldiers and servants. He warned them that the king would take their lands and divide it amongst his officers and servants. He spoke about how their resources earned by their sweat will be taken away by their king. He warned them that they themselves will ultimately become the king's servants. And the final warning he gave them was that when they cry to God for assist considering of their king's tyranny, God will not answer them. Did all his warnings deter the Israelites from wanting a king? History shows that the Israelites got kings who did precisely what Samuel warned that they would do. So, did the Israelites in history win politically? No, they all ended up as servants of their kings. They all encounter several degrees of tyranny.

Just like the Bible days, the citizens of modern day states have their selected kings in the forms of politicians who carry labels such as chancellors, presidents and prime ministers. These modern day day kings, whether by elections or appointments, have equal political powers as the ancient monarchs who had been labeled as kings. In some countries, the politicians are the genuine powers though their monarchies are given the label and functional parameters of "constitutional monarchies." But again the question we have to ask is that, in the contemporary political systems ruled by chancellors, presidents and prime ministers, do the citizens ever win politically? Do they obtain or have equal or significantly more political powers than their elected or appointed politicians? I will let you as the readers to answer these concerns just after you have completed reading this article. You, your self, will know the answers. To facilitate that, let's explore the term zero sum as it relates to political powers.