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- Comrade, you must close your factory tonight at 12.01 am. - (a millisecond later) Yes sir. It's that simple. No matter how much money you invested in it, or
by onetimemanytime 9y ago
- Comrade, you must close your factory tonight at 12.01 am.
- (a millisecond later) Yes sir.
It's that simple. No matter how much money you invested in it, or what contracts you have signed. Countries like China, Russia, Saudi Arabia and the likes have, let's just say, "efficient" systems. The government wants it done and so it is.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- justicezyx 9y agoI cannot get it why people think this is easy. That's a country with f*king 1.4B people in vastly different social systems. Totalitarian/authoritarian is hard, otherwise it should be the dominant nation structure on this planet.
- onetimemanytime 9y agoTotalitarian/authoritarian is hard, otherwise it should be the dominant nation structure on this planet. Widespread democracy is very new, take away the last few decades and see. So you have a few decades of some sort of democracy versus millennia of totalitarian rule.
- TheCoelacanth 9y agoWidespread totalitarianism is also relatively new. Until the last few centuries, most governments were far too decentralized to really call them totalitarian.
- Kluny 9y agoEvery government is a democracy. Monarchies, fascist dictators, republicans, all of them are democracies. They function by the consent of the people. The people may be sheep, brainwashed, terrorized or whatever, but in every case there are more of them then there are government enforcers. If you push them too hard or ask them to do the impossible, it will not work. Dictatorship is not as easy as you seem to think - it still takes effective management to get anywhere.
- sarabande 9y agoIn cases of brainwashing and terrorism, it's important to acknowledge that is no longer what we commonly mean by democracy, because free consent of the people is impaired. Majorities who do not give their consent can and are being subjugated. Here's a simple thought experiment: Me to a group of five people: "Everyone, give me a dollar." Group: "No." Then, I pull out a gun. Let's repeat the conversation: Me to a group of five people: "Everyone, give me a dollar." Group: "OK." I'd call that coercion, not a reasonable use of the word democracy just because they all technically gave their consent.
- marcosdumay 9y agoVenezuela's government seems to be pretty able to survive even with open revolt and people fleecing the country at the rate of thousands a day. Modern governments are way overpowered when compared to starving civilians.
- Animats 9y agoFor a long time, the air pollution control authorities in China didn't have enough authority to make much happen. Inspectors were basically told to get lost, and not allowed to inspect, let alone stop anything. That changed in 2015. Now companies get shut down for violating environmental rules. Some bosses go to jail.
- onetimemanytime 9y ago"For a long time, the air pollution control authorities in China didn't have enough authority to make much happen...That changed in 2015" That was my point, whatever is needed (new laws or enforcement of existing ones) is done in a heartbeat. See https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/02/27/will-xi-jinping-be-chinas-ruler-for-life-the-evidence-from-other-countries-suggests-otherwise/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/02/27...