One would have hoped that those grouches who do not like political threads would simply avoid reading them.
I suppose that would be a denial of human nature, however !
( sorry Jim ! )
I must say that the Whistle political thread has been particularly good reading since P.322 with the excellent post on the difference between a Republic and a Democracy. ( Cinead )
I don’t buy this “difference between a republic and a democracy” idea. This is usually from people who want to justify the fact that there aren’t direct presidential elections in the US, but somehow this is a good thing because the US is not really a democracy. I think this is and attempt to muddle win an argument by simply saying that “i know more than you do: the US is not a democracy, so you can’t really complain that it isn’t a democracy.” On the other hand, Iraq is clearly not a democracy, but everybody seems that it’s a good thing to make it a democracy using the greatest amount of force available to the task.
But there will soon be nobody to vote in Iraq, Glauber, now the Bushes have kindly vapourised 2000 tons of depleted uranium over the whole country.
Problem solved in a few years !
Well, i just heard that the city of Fallujah has been made “safe” (which means it’s now a big pile of rubble). The question is, how soon can the rest of the country be made safe? How soon until the whole world is made safe?
Sorry about that, i’m not very good at dark humour, on fridays.
Even before that all male children of “weapon bearing age” ( ! ) who were attemping to leave were made safe by making them go back into the soon to be bombed city, to be used as targets for the tanks and bombers.
Three cheers for Bush and his merrie coterie of neo-conmen.
The main difference between republic and democracy is that republic means « all public things, services, etc.” (res Publica in Latin), and is not a form of government; democracy is a form of government where public power is supposed to belong to every people, without filter between them and power.
A country where leaders are elected by voting are never democracies, for very few people (members of political fractions) prevent reasonable people from accessing to any public responsibility.
When you vote, you have to choose between few candidates, who have been selected by political fractions, not by citizens.
In a real democracy, everybody has to respect the law, so everybody should be allowed to participate to making the law.
The only democratic process would be not to vote for people, but to designate people by drawing lots.
There wouldn’t be more idiots than today designated that way.
Best
I wonder if we should take charge; a ‘Flutocracy’ would, I am sure, be a kindly and considerate system of governance. Or would it? Factions would soon develop. The Rudall party would, in no time, be warning of the terrible danger from the Prattenist Revolutionary Front. The Cylindricals would be trying to outlaw the Conical Tendancy. Off we would go again into an Olwellian nightmare!
Swiftly, rather.
I’m afraid it is religione et res publicae, Mr Cook.These should never meet.
Oh, Andrew, I love it when you talk that way!
No need to take charge, Treeshark.
As you say, we risk becoming Flutocrats.
We need only wait a little longer and
the State, swollen with greed and corruption,
will fall into our hands like a ripe flute.
All this talk of democracy in the American or middle Eastern context is just so much hot air. We can look forward to neither. Both the US and Iraq are becoming extremist theocracies.
Bush has his Crusade and the other lot of extremists their Jihad.
The oh-so Christian Bush oh-so keen to kill, and the others keen to send their followers to Heaven ASAP.
I wish they would all continue their debate there ASAP.
The only difference between the two sides is the kill rate. The Bushes are winning by a factor of about 1000.
I can’t see theocracy being very compatible with free market capitalism so, I would guess, America is quite a distance from that. Bush was after all run pretty close, it’s that insecurity that keeps 'em on their toes. Iraq is another matter, religious control does seem a very possible outcome…
What I wait to see, with considerable apprehension, is if the current American administration takes on another foreign military adventure in Korea, Iran, France or wherever. If they do we could be in for what the Chinese might call ‘Interesting Times’.
Swift.. did he make flutes?
Swift made observations.
He said just about everything that needed to be pointed out about human stupidity, leaving it to Mr Bush to provide the examples.
We may take a more jaundiced view of " free market capitalism " when oil is no longer quoted in dollars,( Saddam Hussein was thinking of changing to euros !!! ),when the Japanese and the Chinese have gone back onto the Gold standard,and Mr Bush has it explained to him through his back mounted control unit that America has to export more than jobs.
He might, if he is having a good day, ( there always hope ) also understand that an alternative to trying in vain to corner what is left of global fuel reserves at ever increasing cost on ever reducing exports,is to USE LESS.This need not be a painful experience. Think of lagging roof spaces and pipes, for example.Save waste. It may be the only hope.
The only things Swift missed out The Little Prince filled in !
I can never get very excited about oil running out, we live in a solar system and planet just awash with available energy… it’s just financialy and politicaly inconvenient to tap it at present. There always seems to be an end of it all scenario hanging about the popular mind, if it’s not the second coming then it’s global warming.
Do you remember the Population explosion? I think by now we were meant to only have standing room.. now the maths tells us we are dying out due to contraception.
In reality we’ll probably get walloped by something we just didn’t see coming.
Have they gone back to the gold standard? I didn’t know. Funny stuff money it’s only worth something if we all agree to pretend it is. An economist friend of mine argues that it is activity rather than productivity that drives wealth creation… I’m not so sure.
I wasn’t even refering to religion, which is something that shouldn’t be considered by simple citizens.
Swift said also that talent can be recognized by the conspiracy of suckers that raises around it.
I subscribe to all that you said, Andrew.
Best wishes
Well that makes two of us, PH.
It is a start !
Finally, factionalist muck through which I could hope to wade. Just so long as it’s not a timocracy; I’d never survive.
Had to look this up. So the more and better flutes you own, the more power in society you would have…
Seems fair to me!
Had to look this up. So the more and better flutes you own, the more power in society you would have…
Seems fair to me!
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Treeshark that would mean a power struggle between the University of Edinburgh and Michael Flatley.
Doesn’t seem fair to me!
I Flatley deny that