Its really an interesting to think about how leadership has evolved. For a very long time families, clans and tribes collectively decided who among them was most likely not to get them all killed. Then after that it was whoever was best at outmaneuvering other ambitious sociopaths (frequently their relatives) to take the reigns of state; very often over the dead body of their predecessor.
That last one is actually still pretty popular in the equatorial regions.
What capitalism brought to the table is really rather amazing. A public spectacle of ridiculous proportions where the masses are pitted against each other in electoral combat and get into a sporting frenzy about who will wield power. I've never been able to get into it much, cynical bastard that I am. It's rather adorable how flustered some people I know get when they find out that I'm not one of the voters.
"How can this be?!" they howl indignantly.
Its pretty awesome actually. I don't like telling kids there is no Santa Klaus or religious adults their is no God, that shit is sad. However, telling an avid believer in democracy, especially the American variety, that its a complete farce intended to placate them into buying into the apocalyptic nightmare into which we are now descending... delightful!
They'll always fight it, but the facts are an incredible cudgel to beat that nonsense out of people, assuming they don't retreat completely from reality. It almost always ends in the same argument, what I like to call the 'lesser of two evils' dodge. Not a bad fall back position. Much more defensible than the democracy is morally right and the only legitimate form of government position.
The problem with the whole vote for the not so openly evil people thing is that it still leads down the same path, it just lubricates the gears with false hope and naive bullshit instead of fiery nationalism and intolerance. Obama doesn't speak about the "Axis of Evil" and invade two countries over made up shit, but he does use robot armies to massacre civilians and lock up people whose only crime was to tell the truth. The big difference then is that Obama spoke of hope, gave some people some more rights in the US and was a bit harder to hate as a person.
At the end of the 8 years though, the world will still be no closer to anything substantial other than complete environmental collapse leading to an inevitable WWIII for sheer survival.
Which brings me to the crux of my antipathy for the cult of democracy. We live in a world run by money, and the more money you got, the more power you can purchase. The whole voting game is as rigged in the US as it is in Zimbabwe, its just that the people in America have a lot more money spent on them to buy into the system.
You don't vote for a position, you vote for a party or a person. No one would vote for corporate rule, massive pollution, the bombing of civilians in countries the government doesn't even care about enough to properly invade; yet that is what people vote for over and over again.
I must concede though, I get pretty caught up in the drama of it all sometimes too. The elections in Turkey next week have me absolutely captivated. Erdogan pretty much started a war against the Kurds in an attempt to get them to lose an election. Ukraine's election that will be tallied and told in a day or two is also pretty good sport, with Pereshenko trying to out maneuver various Oligarchs in order to maintain a mandate to govern the partially disintegrated country.
"In a democracy the poor will have more power than the rich, because there are more of them, and the will of the majority is supreme." -Aristotle
"Democracy is the road to socialism." -Marx
"The new community which the capitalists are now constructing will be a very complete and absolute community; and one which will tolerate nothing really independent of itself." -G.K. Chesterson
That last one is actually still pretty popular in the equatorial regions.
What capitalism brought to the table is really rather amazing. A public spectacle of ridiculous proportions where the masses are pitted against each other in electoral combat and get into a sporting frenzy about who will wield power. I've never been able to get into it much, cynical bastard that I am. It's rather adorable how flustered some people I know get when they find out that I'm not one of the voters.
"How can this be?!" they howl indignantly.
Its pretty awesome actually. I don't like telling kids there is no Santa Klaus or religious adults their is no God, that shit is sad. However, telling an avid believer in democracy, especially the American variety, that its a complete farce intended to placate them into buying into the apocalyptic nightmare into which we are now descending... delightful!
They'll always fight it, but the facts are an incredible cudgel to beat that nonsense out of people, assuming they don't retreat completely from reality. It almost always ends in the same argument, what I like to call the 'lesser of two evils' dodge. Not a bad fall back position. Much more defensible than the democracy is morally right and the only legitimate form of government position.
The problem with the whole vote for the not so openly evil people thing is that it still leads down the same path, it just lubricates the gears with false hope and naive bullshit instead of fiery nationalism and intolerance. Obama doesn't speak about the "Axis of Evil" and invade two countries over made up shit, but he does use robot armies to massacre civilians and lock up people whose only crime was to tell the truth. The big difference then is that Obama spoke of hope, gave some people some more rights in the US and was a bit harder to hate as a person.
At the end of the 8 years though, the world will still be no closer to anything substantial other than complete environmental collapse leading to an inevitable WWIII for sheer survival.
Which brings me to the crux of my antipathy for the cult of democracy. We live in a world run by money, and the more money you got, the more power you can purchase. The whole voting game is as rigged in the US as it is in Zimbabwe, its just that the people in America have a lot more money spent on them to buy into the system.
You don't vote for a position, you vote for a party or a person. No one would vote for corporate rule, massive pollution, the bombing of civilians in countries the government doesn't even care about enough to properly invade; yet that is what people vote for over and over again.
I must concede though, I get pretty caught up in the drama of it all sometimes too. The elections in Turkey next week have me absolutely captivated. Erdogan pretty much started a war against the Kurds in an attempt to get them to lose an election. Ukraine's election that will be tallied and told in a day or two is also pretty good sport, with Pereshenko trying to out maneuver various Oligarchs in order to maintain a mandate to govern the partially disintegrated country.
"In a democracy the poor will have more power than the rich, because there are more of them, and the will of the majority is supreme." -Aristotle
"Democracy is the road to socialism." -Marx
"The new community which the capitalists are now constructing will be a very complete and absolute community; and one which will tolerate nothing really independent of itself." -G.K. Chesterson
