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I'm an anarchist; I think it's too important that humans have the ability to live their lives with dignity, and I'm fully aware of how infrequently that happens
by logfromblammo 8y ago
I'm an anarchist; I think it's too important that humans have the ability to live their lives with dignity, and I'm fully aware of how infrequently that happens when anti-government is limited.
Practical anarchist, though. Gratuitous rebellion for its own sake is counterproductive.
It is necessary that humans come together in cooperation to accomplish goals otherwise impossible without cartels, to break the Nash equilibriums. But it is also necessary to dismantle and diffuse concentrations of power when they become destructive to their original aims. The more permanent an institution, the more inefficient and corruptible it can become as time passes. Corporations need to sometimes fail and be replaced by scrappy startups. Governments need to sometimes hand over power to a different political bloc. Religions need to sometimes have ideological schisms. Statues and monuments sometimes need to be taken down and warehoused. Perfectly good uniforms sometimes need to be replaced with different designs. Sometimes, the fortunes of the rich need to be squandered, stolen, or sunk.
The impulse to rebel must be satisfied, and one would hope that it is possible without violent rebellion, but that is sometimes unavoidable, if the entrenched power structure in question proves unwilling to diminish itself peacefully.
As it is now, my primary concerns are the increasing concentrations of wealth to fewer people, and consolidating ownership of communications media, broadcast and network channels, and intellectual property. These are self-reinforcing, and can lead to a runaway, much like increasing atmospheric CO2 can trigger a runaway greenhouse effect. The healthcare/health-insurance industry is a potential future threat, but it isn't yet too late for them to sort themselves out through rational analysis and discussion.
- InitialLastName 8y ago> As it is now, my primary concerns are the increasing concentrations of wealth to fewer people, and consolidating ownership of communications media, broadcast and network channels, and intellectual property. All of those issues, as far as I can tell, are actually a BIGGER problem in the various parts of the world (and of world history) with weaker state mechanisms, in terms of the ability of the largest portion of their populations to reach as far as possible up Maslow's heirarchy.
- logfromblammo 8y agoUnderstanding the reasons why a problem exists is only one part of solving it. Knowing will inform your future strategy, but one should not feel overly constrained by the facts of history. If a problem arises in part because government was too weak, that does not imply that the problem may be fixed by making government stronger. In this specific case, the best solution for consolidation might actually be to weaken IP law, while strengthening FCC licensing restrictions. As for the other problem, the rich seem to have installed themselves and their hopeful cronies to make governments their tools, so their humbling will probably need to come from another vector. Unless, of course, the government tools may be taken back from them. I think that unlikely, but people surprise you sometimes. Setting a higher marginal tax rate on the richest would certainly be preferable to murdering them and taking their stuff, but that's always on the table. I think unions are also a reasonable counterbalance to corporate barons, but the labor cartels are very weak now.