My early life led me to ask adult questions. One was “How did Germany, the world’s most advanced civilization, fall into the National Socialist ideology?” Answered today by
The Atlas Society gives him away as a Randian but his presentation absolves him from being a mere cultist. The explanation shines by its clarity. Vague terms like right, left, and fascism are explained simply and perfectly.
The Captain
Be very careful of Populist candidates.
Was Nietzsche a populist?
The problem with trigger words is that they atrophy the brain.
The Captain
You’re assuming that I said only populist’s, Assuming is what atrophy’s the brain. Also notice I didn’t say all Populist candidates, some of them actually do good.
Demand side economics is not fascist if this is leading there.
If Populism isn’t a defining characteristic for this choice, how much weight does it have, between one and 99%?
The Captain
You both should give your definition of populism, a word with an insanely convoluted undependable evolution of meaning highly varied within English polities and in translation to others, sometimes mirroring English confusions but often creating novel new ones….
Or specify your personal meaning somewhere on the scale from “0” signifying a profound appreciation and respect for popular sentiment and “10” signifying demagoguery.
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The problem with political language is that it is designed to hide meaning. Joseph Schumpeter told the truth, the reality of liberal democracy, “It’s not about governing but about getting elected.” The Bolsheviks got elected, the National Socialists got elected, Hugo Chavez got elected with a 70% landslide victory. Liberal democracy is a good thing that can lead to evil. Erik Blair coined the phrase New Speak.
At the end of the day it’s about the group vs. the individual. The early Anarchists as well as Ayn Rand championed the individual. Rand was instrumental in ending my search for the existence of god or gods. She wrote, I paraphrase, “Anyone who believes in a supernatural, all seeing, all powerful being has no self respect.”
The terms left and right, derived from the seating arrangement of French political bodies, are obsolete. You can be to the right of the extreme left and still be quite left of center. During Venezuela’s last experiment with democracy there were practically none to the right of center. My business partner said they could have a national convention in a VW. The extreme left, a large number of parties, collectively never got more than 15% of the vote, the reason I believed Chavez would never get elected. A lot of good people regretted their vote. A good capitalist friend voted for Chavez because we need a strong hand to restore order.
Populism, pandering to the Vox Populi to get elected. It has little to do with how they will govern. Rome went from democracy to empire, to populism/socialism (panem et circenses), to extinction. It’s hard to call Nero a right winger.
Even if I know what I mean by populism I have no idea what my interlocutor means by it beyond, most likely, it not being a compliment. At the end of the day, in Venezuela, I wound up voting for the least disagreeable until it got so bad I didn’t vote at all, why bother taking part in a charade?
The Captain
I think Captain you have a habit of telling people what their position is instead of asking them. That is why I ask you questions, not to box you in but to better understand where you are coming from.
Populism can be bad if you use it to get what you want instead of what is best for the collective. People who use populism to lie and lead people to a dark place is where I would give it a 10, with 10 being the worst.
Populism that is truthful and allows the electorate to participate and leads the collective to a better future of course would be a 1.
I am very leary of Populism because most people that get wrapped up in it cease to use their own critical thinking. They tend to take the Populists words at face value. Instead of thinking on their own.
I think we all have seen Populism in both forms.
Liberal Democracy from its founding sought to curb and rebuke idiot populism (the dominant form of recurring idiocy) by maximizing the chances for the emergence of a something like a community — a mutual sensibility of shared self, what the Romans called the Res Publica, a thing held/owned/maintained mutually by persons enduring over time and that rebukes selfishness and tyranny. That was the primary goal of the founders of the USAian Republic.
We’ve had a rough but good run for over two centuries.
d fb
Are you Jewish? I ask because Jews answer questions by asking questions.
Why?
Why not?
The Captain
How was this a question?
The Captain
Stephen Kotkin, historian, is at the very very top of the list of people I disagree with on many fundamental political prejudices, but utterly totally respect and study and revere. His first two books of a planned three on the life and times of Stalin I treasure not only as historical biography, but also as amongst my favorite examples of clear brilliant writing.
This video is of his most recent public appearance:
He looks back over the past 50 years as a means to gain at least some perspective as to what sorts of changes could be coming in the next 50. He also clearly puts some of his famous Then he engages is a brilliant conversation with an interlocutor.
Listen, puzzle, enjoy, and reflect.
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The resurrection joke is great.
but I wish he’d get on with things.
Okay the 3rd point matters.
The 3rd point is a problem. No one feels a thing. Meaning whatever the propaganda teaches can be washed away with reality.
The three governments should not be standing. The arrogance of holding power in China, Russia, and Iran is unbelievable. None of those men deserve their own lives.
His famous what?
DB2
Social media has been devoured.
In the 2016 race there was a singular voice to broadcast on social media. Today there is no grip on a singular publishing on social media. We are all organized good and bad in our little corners.
We do not hear the other guys.
The last point on who is unhappy? Mixed. People are dour regardless of others.
No I am an American, can’t you tell by my accent?
oops, sorry,
His famous very funny dark humor.
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Let me add that Kotkin goes way beyond Zeihan and the like in appraising long term geoeconomic and geopoitical trends worldwide in a short funny presentation. For one example, towards the end he points out that China faces two tightly linked demographic problems:
population collapse of youngsters to support oldsters, AND
a huge excess of alienated young males with little hope of marriage or even coupling beyond a sordid level
and points out a horrible but obvious solution: use up most of that huge excess of discontented young males to invade Taiwan, now or never. Ugh.
Coincidentally related, here is the latest alarm from my regularly listened to China Update
which details sabre rattling and grim economic data.
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