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The phrase "loosely correlated" is loosely correlated with precision. In your example, one vendor has to engage in likely illegal, but sanctioned behavior (bri

The phrase "loosely correlated" is loosely correlated with precision. In your example, one vendor has to engage in likely illegal, but sanctioned behavior (bribery), while the other has to wait for permits to be approved, which apparently takes some time. How long? Not sure. What I can tell you is that I've been to NYC several times, and I can confirm that there are hotdog vendors all over the place, so, apparently they do get around to those permits eventually, even if it isn't quick enough to avoid being used as an anecdote about how we should forgo democracy. Another example: We aren't currently "repressing" a vast number of Uyghur Muslims for the crime of existing / beliefs. Yet another example: When Covid hit China literally nailed people shut inside their houses. The US govt and state govts set up some guidelines and did things like mandate masks (not that you'd get arrested). Pretty sure I know which brand of freedom I, and well, pretty much everyone else I know would choose. So, which one is it for you? Another statement from Thiel, "fate of our world may depend on the effort of a single person who builds or propagates the machinery of freedom that makes the world safe for capitalism." Gee, I wonder who he thinks that person should be? Clearly himself. (Also, "makes the world safe for capitalism."?! What planet does he live on?) Thiel is just another fairly intelligent person who was in the right place at the right time, leading to generational wealth, leading to a bunch of sycophants bumping up his ego so much that he thinks he should be the person deciding how everyone lives their lives. Hard pass from me, Petey. In reality, any degradation in freedom we've witnessed in democracy has to do with forces aligned against giving the voters power. We should focus on fixing those issues, not throwing democracy away so that a single narcissist can decide what is best for all of us.

skissane 4y ago
> We aren't currently "repressing" a vast number of Uyghur Muslims for the crime of existing / beliefs. The US has done no small number of utterly terrible things in its history (I was going to make a list, but do I really need to?) – and, arguably for some of them, it still hasn't stopped – despite being a "democracy" all that time. I am not saying the US regime is currently as bad as that of the Chinese Communist Party – but maybe that's not saying that much. It seems at least plausible that some dictatorships may have contributed less evil to human history than American democracy has. Other famous "democracies" – such as the "Mother of Parliaments" herself – also have a rather sullied historical record, and the same may well be true of them. (I'm also not saying Thiel, or anyone he might pick, would make a "good" dictator – I don't know how that would turn out, but I certainly don't recommend that anyone perform that experiment.)

skissane 4y ago

> We aren't currently "repressing" a vast number of Uyghur Muslims for the crime of existing / beliefs. The US has done no small number of utterly terrible things in its history (I was going to make a list, but do I really need to?) – and, arguably for some of them, it still hasn't stopped – despite being a "democracy" all that time. I am not saying the US regime is currently as bad as that of the Chinese Communist Party – but maybe that's not saying that much. It seems at least plausible that some dictatorships may have contributed less evil to human history than American democracy has. Other famous "democracies" – such as the "Mother of Parliaments" herself – also have a rather sullied historical record, and the same may well be true of them. (I'm also not saying Thiel, or anyone he might pick, would make a "good" dictator – I don't know how that would turn out, but I certainly don't recommend that anyone perform that experiment.)