There are a number of documentaries on the Clan Chiefs who used to run Scotland in days of yore. They still exist as nominal chiefs of the Scottish clans.

However, the self-aggrandisement that is natural to the human heart ensures that Scotland and other nations continue to have their clan chiefs, for better or for worse. There is a wide spectrum of them. In some countries they are called war lords and in others chief executives, political leaders, or whatever. As a child, I first came across the word “chief” in relation to the Red Indians of America. More recently I learned that the name Ku Klux Klan derives from the clans of Scotland living in the south of the 19th-century United States of America.

Multiple fiefdoms

The divisiveness and feuding between human beings continues to the present hour. Some of it is crude and vicious, varying along a spectrum to the more sophisticated political and ruthless manoeuvring in more civilized societies. It is as real and as present as ever. The position, power and influence of Scottish clan chiefs may have diminished but the ruthless ambitions of wicked men continue to use the levers of power and influence to rule their own fiefdoms in each country of the world – and there are plenty of fiefdoms. Whether it is local or national government, health boards, trades unions or quangos, multinational corporations, board members of an innumerable number of organisations, leaders of professional bodies, legal firms or banking organisations, churches or charities, there is plenty scope for alpha-males and women to throw their weight about, and don’t their minions experience it. The bigger the organisation, the better for these power-grabbers. Politicians are public examples of what is only too common in more private situations. The dogmatic assertions we hear from many politicians demonstrate that in another context and time they could have easily adopted a commandant role, whose post-war character morphed into apparent normality.

Dictators are easy to discern when they gain control of a country, but this blogpost draws attention to the same character and behaviour at the multiple layers and positions of power in modern society, and we should not be surprised at its discovery. However, we should be surprised when those trained to be judicious join this partisan jamboree, and it is dangerous when judges and the judicial system are politicized and scramble to abuse their power to over-reach their authority. It has been known for generations in third world countries, but it is now seen in the USA and it is emerging more prominently in the UK. However, it is not recent nor new. People probably do not know nor care that almost 30 years ago a sheriff in Scotland publicly maligned the character of two godly presbyterian ministers, without their presence to answer for themselves, nor opportunity to defend themselves, and this was broadcast throughout the mass media of the day, with little recourse to real justice. The justiciary are not free from prejudice and now the UK is learning that the genie is out of the bottle, documented in regular reports on GB News, which has provoked some investigative journalism in the mainstream media and even the BBC, following the cancel culture of recent years.

Too big to manage

People are familiar with the phrase “too big to fail”, such as the banks in the 2007-2008 financial crisis, but I have drawn attention to “too big to manage”. There are other factors to consider in the management and government of nations and corporate affairs. The Peter principle has been identified for some time, that is, the promotion of people above the level of their competency. It seems that the leader of the UK Labour Party, Sir Keir Starmer, has still to learn this. I have previously drawn attention to the dangers of international bodies controlling nations instead of helping them, a simple distinction taught by ecclesiastical presbyterianism Lk 22:24-26, against the controlling, authoritarian ethos of episcopacy. There is a more sinister organizational behaviour – simply moving incompetent or abusive people from one area to another in one’s organisation. This was common with abusive Roman Catholic priests who could be easily moved to another country, but the behaviour is common in large organizations. Failed UK politicians are sometimes given a seat in the House of Lords if they have the ear of relevant people. So it goes on, as long as we have ungodly rulers.

Too big for their boots

There is plenty of scope for unscrupulous people to exercise their God-given talents in the wrong way, to their own aggrandizement. They will have eternity to experience the results of such behaviour. Meanwhile the mass media informs us of yet another cover-up, the constructive dismissal of a yet another whistleblower, yet another scandal. Were there no Christians present to prevent or expose the corrupt practices or, better still, to nip them in the bud? Or were these Christians themselves nipped in the bud to remove their influence?

No number of Public Inquiries and governmental reports will solve the problem. The problem is sinful human nature and Jesus gave us the solution long ago: “You must be born again” Jn 3:3,5,7. Those who have learned this and who have been born again by the Holy Spirit of God are like lights in this world Mat 5:14 and the salt of the Earth Mat 5:13. We need more active Christians. “Your country needs YOU.”

Links:

8 Oct 2018: the BBC Documentary The Bank that Almost Broke Britain said about the too rapid growth of the Royal Bank of Scotland: “It was simply too big for any individual, no matter how talented, to understand and manage effectively.”

2 Jan 2020: calling time on chief executives.