Twenty Universals.

Nice guy, Augustine.

And blogs!

Another party heard from.

trump removes faces of "non-believers." A tradition thousands of years old.

Someone crossed Germanicus.

Desecration.

Maybe it's a function of being old--of being old and having read a lot of history, but lately I've been thinking about some universal stories various civilizations or cultures or even social organizations have told themselves through the millennia as a way to rationalize their perceived superiority, their right to rule and their ascendance over others.

These are the things that affirm their belief in the order of the universe. Like the divine right of kings. If you look at most hegemonies today--which are bigger and more powerful than medieval kingdoms--they establish an order that posits the divine right of corporate leadership. Or the divine right of MBA. Or the natural primacy of private equity. These high posts aren't necessarily earned so much as bestowed--as they were under different polities so many centuries ago.

It occurs to me that many of their stories and beliefs large and small recur over and again throughout history. They allow us to believe in our own primacy and the rightness of our way of behaving. You see these things in countries, religions, companies even agencies. 

Almost always, after a while, they turn out to be false. Or half true, which is a measure worse than false.

1. Previous management/leadership/gods sucked. Our new management/leadership/gods are the right ones. If we listen to them, they'll undo past errors and we'll return to our ordained golden age. (For about 300 years, Roman rule vacillated between "pagan" gods and christian gods. Statues became "magic slates" with faces peeled off an replaced per the mores of the moment.

2. You might not see the truth. But that's ok. I do. Trust me and you'll be ok.

3. Anyone who disagrees with me/with us is wrong. They are to be disparaged--even hated and killed--because they don't follow the one true way.

4. There is one true way. But only we can see it and do it.

5. It doesn't matter that our enlightened path isn't helping you yet--and is only helping my friends. We'll get down to your sort before too long.

6. If you're impatient, you're a doubter and not true to the cause. Therefore you deserve nothing.

7. You must be one-hundred percent obedient. I can do as I wish. My supremacy means the rules that apply to you don't apply to me.

8. I get special treatment because I deserve it and am special.

9. Money and wealth are magic. They will accrue to me even if I am serving no one but myself.

10. Anyone against me is against you. Hate them.

11. Any consequences of our actions can be cleaned up by others in the future. We don't need to worry about them now.

12. We possess magic. Only we know how it works and how to use it. Everyone else is deficient.

13. My profit comes now. Your profit will come later.

14. I get paid first. You'll get paid eventually.

15. Prophecies you pay for are self-fulfilling.

16. Agreement and approval can be bought cheap.

17. Doing less and charging more is the secret until you're caught. And when you are caught, change the rules.

18. It can be done just by pressing a button if you know how.

19. I have the data that proves it.

20. The system helps only those who create it.

21. Move onto the next place before you get caught. 

It hardly matters what entity you're associated with. These are the beliefs that rule our world.

Read carefully enough and you'll see them in every campaign promise and every corporate press-release.