The Helots and the Zealots

The Zealots do not realize that they are being manipulated by the Helots. The latter are, with reference to Walter Brennan's term in "Meet John Doe", the money and power people who are capitalizing upon the ignorance of the little people to advance their own greed. The former are, of course, the little people whose passions are so readily inflamed against even littler people. it used to be that the interests of "the people" may sometimes conflict with those of "the chosen", but they were easy to identify. no more. These days, it's the little people who are carrying water for those whose true motives are opposite theirs, and they don't even know it. The public health care debate is a fine example. We all would benefit by a health care system which directs funds to helath care, not to insurance companies and their shareholders. In our late-stage capitalist society, it is only the government which can do that which insurance companies insistently refuse to do - provide care to those who need it but from whom no profit can be derived by insuring. Yet the terms of the current debate have been set to make the problem-solver, the government, the problem : "socialism", "destruction of the best system in the world", etc. Why ? Because the Helots have successfully engaged the know-nothing Zealots' rage at "the Other" and directed it in defense of an insurence system directly at odds with the Zealots' own interests.