“Government is not reason; it is not eloquence. It is force. And force, like fire, is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.” George Washington. I frequently reread the bill of rights. I also seek the defining passages in this document. It is discouraging to see how many liberties we have seen eroded. Where are the servants in our government? Thanks prof. B for writing this. I'm on my third read.
Thank you, Mike. Great Washington quote and great question. If more people read, like you, the Bill of Rights, servant leaders would arise to meet the demand. Alas, too many are comfortable seeing liberty eroded.
It seems to me that the biggest obstacle to a broad spectrum coalition against the global totalitarianism we now face, is the lack of agreement on the definition of words. Words like Capitalism and Socialism, for example. Someone on the left would say that social cooperation is the hallmark of real Socialism (Social Democracy) and that Capitalism, a state-supported two-tiered social structure of owners and workers, whose interests are in structural opposition, with the owners holding the greatest influence on public policy, in direct proportion to the size of their capital ownership, is the force leading towards the disintegration of society thru the built-in tendency towards the aggregation of capital, money and power in the hands of a few, while the masses are gradually, and then rapidly dispossessed and disenfranchised by the Totalitarian Plutocrats at the top of the Capitalist pyramid, who love nothing more than securing their power and control by setting the masses against one another by constantly having their toady media and duopolistic political parties stoke tribal identity wars to keep them from cooperating to throw off their oppressors. If there is to be a state at all, we should discuss what should be its proper role, functions, and limitations. Or would your goal be AnCapistan? Can there ever be a state without a bureaucracy? Most folks who call themselves Socialist (in the western world) would favor a structure of local councils, with representatives chosen by them to sit on regional councils, etc, and with resources and industry run by community-level co-ops and small family businesses, so that the workers are also the owners. Mom and pop shops, family farms, etc. This would mean local control, with no off-shoring of jobs, no mass poisoning of communities by polluting industries, no class war, no need for unions, and no parasitic (rent-seeking) class sitting on top, draining local resources and manipulating everyone below them for their own benefit.
Julia, Thank you for taking the time to share your insightful thinking. As you point us towards, we must distinguish between real entrepreneurs and cronies. In this essay, I draw out the difference. https://www.aier.org/article/vaccine-passports-are-cronyism/
AnCapistan? I'd settle for a constitutional republic where the 9th Amendment was commonly revered and invoked. We are a long way from even that.
“Government is not reason; it is not eloquence. It is force. And force, like fire, is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.” George Washington. I frequently reread the bill of rights. I also seek the defining passages in this document. It is discouraging to see how many liberties we have seen eroded. Where are the servants in our government? Thanks prof. B for writing this. I'm on my third read.
Much respect, Mike
Thank you, Mike. Great Washington quote and great question. If more people read, like you, the Bill of Rights, servant leaders would arise to meet the demand. Alas, too many are comfortable seeing liberty eroded.
He knew it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-_NZ_ES7Ug
Very sad!
Please repost view
It seems to me that the biggest obstacle to a broad spectrum coalition against the global totalitarianism we now face, is the lack of agreement on the definition of words. Words like Capitalism and Socialism, for example. Someone on the left would say that social cooperation is the hallmark of real Socialism (Social Democracy) and that Capitalism, a state-supported two-tiered social structure of owners and workers, whose interests are in structural opposition, with the owners holding the greatest influence on public policy, in direct proportion to the size of their capital ownership, is the force leading towards the disintegration of society thru the built-in tendency towards the aggregation of capital, money and power in the hands of a few, while the masses are gradually, and then rapidly dispossessed and disenfranchised by the Totalitarian Plutocrats at the top of the Capitalist pyramid, who love nothing more than securing their power and control by setting the masses against one another by constantly having their toady media and duopolistic political parties stoke tribal identity wars to keep them from cooperating to throw off their oppressors. If there is to be a state at all, we should discuss what should be its proper role, functions, and limitations. Or would your goal be AnCapistan? Can there ever be a state without a bureaucracy? Most folks who call themselves Socialist (in the western world) would favor a structure of local councils, with representatives chosen by them to sit on regional councils, etc, and with resources and industry run by community-level co-ops and small family businesses, so that the workers are also the owners. Mom and pop shops, family farms, etc. This would mean local control, with no off-shoring of jobs, no mass poisoning of communities by polluting industries, no class war, no need for unions, and no parasitic (rent-seeking) class sitting on top, draining local resources and manipulating everyone below them for their own benefit.
Julia, Thank you for taking the time to share your insightful thinking. As you point us towards, we must distinguish between real entrepreneurs and cronies. In this essay, I draw out the difference. https://www.aier.org/article/vaccine-passports-are-cronyism/
AnCapistan? I'd settle for a constitutional republic where the 9th Amendment was commonly revered and invoked. We are a long way from even that.
What about National defense?