"Men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and the next place, oblige it to control itself."
James Madison
James Madison
Let's use a blacksmith to flesh this out:
What is the difference between a blacksmith that identifies himself as a blacksmith and one that doesnt? Is it a matter of having priorities and where they stack?
What is the difference between a blacksmith that identifies himself as a blacksmith and one that doesnt? Is it a matter of having priorities and where they stack?
The agency of the individual is inversely proportionate to the power of the state.
It's sort of funny watching politicians thinking the problem is not enough authoritarianism.
"People are really mad that someone did something unspeakable to Innocents!" "Don't worry! We'll ban being mad at things!"
"People are really mad that someone did something unspeakable to Innocents!" "Don't worry! We'll ban being mad at things!"
"bro just one more war bro, bro I swear just one more war and it'll fix the world bro,"
What percentage of third party keyboards do you suppose have spyware hard coded into them?
Why would the patriarchy do this to women?
https://www.psypost.org/2023/11/attractiveness-has-a-bigger-impact-on-mens-socioeconomic-success-than-womens-study-suggests-214653
https://www.psypost.org/2023/11/attractiveness-has-a-bigger-impact-on-mens-socioeconomic-success-than-womens-study-suggests-214653
Germany has more direct representation in Washington than the state of Georgia.
Georgians have representation, but not the state.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventeenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
Georgians have representation, but not the state.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventeenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
It's a free for all.
The treasure is being pilfered. Only barrier to handouts is having the right connections.
The treasure is being pilfered. Only barrier to handouts is having the right connections.
Parents should do their best, but leaving it to parents to fend for themselves, when society it broken on so many levels is just a losing strategy.
I've been trying to consider, given the broad debates over capitalism vs. anything else, if we actually live under capitalism.
So capitalism at its core is free enterprise, being free to engage in trade with others and others being able to trade with you, and private ownership and control of capital.
Well, we live in a society with some free enterprise. There are businesses started by nobodies that grow and others that fail and nobody from the state has anything to do with it, so that's a tick in the "for" column.
On the other hand, there's a lot of limitations on who you're allowed to do business with. Cops instead of spending time tracking down violent criminals or finding thieves are searching for unlicensed businesses, or unlicensed contractors, or all kinds of other people who are being prevented from working in a certain way solely because they haven't gotten approval by the state.
The stock market means that individuals can purchase shares of different companies and if those companies grow then those individuals can get rich without asking permission from anyone (besides their stock broker) for the privilege.
On the other hand there, many of the largest companies on the planet heavily rely on government. Obviously aerospace and weapons companies rely on the military directly paying their bills, but there's a lot of companies that accept large government contracts that fundamentally sustain their businesses, or that rely on favorable regulatory conditions that let them exist and succeed but also make it harder for competition to exist.
Then there's a painful reality that a working man pays more than half his pay to the government through various taxes. When the government gets more of what you make than you do, I don't think you can consider that system capitalism, even if there are free markets and some level of private ownership of capital.
Private control of capital is another thing altogether. We're living in the most regulated society in the history of the world. You can't take a shit without it ticking a bunch of boxes from 14 different government departments. If you own a thing you don't really control it because there's so little you can do with it.
So I guess in reality we can say we have little bits of capitalism here and there that work well, but we also have massive amounts of not capitalism. We have an oppressive superstate that takes everything from everyone and micromanages everyone, but while it does almost nothing for us in return we do need to figure out how to feed ourselves on our own...
So capitalism at its core is free enterprise, being free to engage in trade with others and others being able to trade with you, and private ownership and control of capital.
Well, we live in a society with some free enterprise. There are businesses started by nobodies that grow and others that fail and nobody from the state has anything to do with it, so that's a tick in the "for" column.
On the other hand, there's a lot of limitations on who you're allowed to do business with. Cops instead of spending time tracking down violent criminals or finding thieves are searching for unlicensed businesses, or unlicensed contractors, or all kinds of other people who are being prevented from working in a certain way solely because they haven't gotten approval by the state.
The stock market means that individuals can purchase shares of different companies and if those companies grow then those individuals can get rich without asking permission from anyone (besides their stock broker) for the privilege.
On the other hand there, many of the largest companies on the planet heavily rely on government. Obviously aerospace and weapons companies rely on the military directly paying their bills, but there's a lot of companies that accept large government contracts that fundamentally sustain their businesses, or that rely on favorable regulatory conditions that let them exist and succeed but also make it harder for competition to exist.
Then there's a painful reality that a working man pays more than half his pay to the government through various taxes. When the government gets more of what you make than you do, I don't think you can consider that system capitalism, even if there are free markets and some level of private ownership of capital.
Private control of capital is another thing altogether. We're living in the most regulated society in the history of the world. You can't take a shit without it ticking a bunch of boxes from 14 different government departments. If you own a thing you don't really control it because there's so little you can do with it.
So I guess in reality we can say we have little bits of capitalism here and there that work well, but we also have massive amounts of not capitalism. We have an oppressive superstate that takes everything from everyone and micromanages everyone, but while it does almost nothing for us in return we do need to figure out how to feed ourselves on our own...
> To where do children turn then? Society and institutions are failing, then what?
We're finding out. Usually hard times create strong men, but who knows how long that will take.
We're finding out. Usually hard times create strong men, but who knows how long that will take.
Didn't say parents shouldn't teach values. They should.
A healthy society fosters and supports that, whereas ours have become hostile, so placing the blame and budren on the parents is a losing strategy.
You want me to say "the individual" but that's just a guy in the woods.
A healthy society fosters and supports that, whereas ours have become hostile, so placing the blame and budren on the parents is a losing strategy.
You want me to say "the individual" but that's just a guy in the woods.