power, real power: the importance of charm and confidence

Another gem in Michael Sandels' "Reith Lectures on morality" was his Ronald Regan story:

MICHAEL SANDEL: Well I prepared … I was a high school debater, Sue, and thought I was really very good, and Ronald Reagan held views that were anathema to me and my classmates. So I prepared the toughest questions I could muster and for 25 minutes or so grilled him in front of the 2,000 plus students. And somehow he charmed everyone in the room and then left! (LAUGHTER) 

SUE LAWLEY: What is the moral of this story: beware the charm of politicians, or don’t be bedazzled by celebrity? I mean what went wrong with the grilling you prepared?

MICHAEL SANDEL: Well either I wasn’t good enough or he was too good. (LAWLEY LAUGHS) And he went on, having been Governor of California at the moment, to work his charms on the American people.

My rudimentary understanding of Marxism, is that the upper classes rule through their economic power, it all boils down to their control of capital. In my "big picture overview" of Marxism, is that you focus on the real power, and the church, polticians, courts and other elements of the establishment are more of a reflection of this power: "money is the ultimate power" and "power always wins".  

To be honest when I see films like "Who Killed The Electric Car" and "The Corporation" I think the Marxist analysis of capitalism makes some pretty good points.

However where Marxism totally falls down for me, is that to focus exclusively on economics is to miss most of human life and humanity. Only Marx could have been narrow minded to think that centralised state control would be any sort of nirvana.

Ben Goldacre's "Bad Science" column, book, podcast, blog ... are full of powerful insightful, giving good examples of how dangerous the public's misunderstanding of science can be, however my concern with Ben is that he misses that many other field specialists are equally concerned by important popular misconceptions of their fields? Marx's obsesses on one particular area of human knowledge (i.e. economics) and this gives him a warped perspective on reality. Both Ben and Marx don't seem to see a big picture which is infinitely complex and possibly beyond any of us to understand in a truly balanced way?

Anyway, putting aside my doubts of anyone finding  a unified/balanced theory for the meaning of life... The thing which always surprises me about the upper classes, is how they continue to dominate by charm and confidence, they maybe talking nonsense but the ruling classes: lawyers, politicians, directors of companies  say everything with charm and confidence, which is probably more important than depth of knowledge and truth.

 

nirvana |nərˈvänə; nir-|

noun Buddhism

a transcendent state in which there is neither suffering, desire, nor sense of self, and the subject is released from the effects of karma and samsara. It represents the final goal of Buddhism.

• Hinduism liberation of the soul from the effects of karma and from bodily existence.

• a state of perfect happiness; an ideal or idyllic place : Hollywood's dearest dream of small-town nirvana.

ORIGIN from Sanskrit nirvāṇa, from nirvā ‘be extinguished,’ from nis ‘out’ + vā- ‘to blow.’

Marxism |ˈmärkˌsizəm|

the political and economic theories of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, later developed by their followers to form the basis for the theory and practice of communism: 

Central to Marxist theory is an explanation of social change in terms of economic factors, according to which the means of production provide the economic base, which influences or determines the political and ideological superstructure. Marx and Engels predicted the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism by the proletariat and the eventual attainment of a classless communist society.

Science (from the Latin scientia, meaning "knowledge") refers to any systematic knowledge-base or prescriptive practice that is capable of resulting in a prediction or predictable type of outcome. In this sense, science may refer to a highly skilled technique or practice.

In its more restricted contemporary sense, science refers to a system of acquiring knowledge based on scientific method, and to the organized body of knowledge gained through such research.