3 ms·

How do you prevent capitalism and dollars being free speech from turning into oligarchy? Asking for a friend. Actually, a few billion friends, come to think o

How do you prevent capitalism and dollars being free speech from turning into oligarchy? Asking for a friend. Actually, a few billion friends, come to think of it.

wongarsu 4y ago
It seems incredibly hard to get right. On the other hand many countries seem to get it less wrong than the US, so maybe that's a good starting point. One thing that immediately comes to mind is that first-past-the-post voting systems seem to produce pretty bad results, basically always devolving into a two party system which enables easy us-vs-them rhetoric. And while people love to debate which alternative system is the absolute best, there are many in use around the world that produce better results.
vitessa 4y ago
You can’t. You have three options: 1. A violent revolution against capitalism that destroys it. 2. You slowly contain capitalism and wind it down, making the elite increasingly irrelevant, as it appeared the US and Europe might have been on track to do from 1933-73, until you’ve basically achieved socialism without necessarily calling it that. 3. Capitalism continues to corrode the restraints put in place to contain it until you have an oligarchic nightmare like the US. 3 is completely unacceptable; 1 is a bit better but still involves people getting killed. 2 is probably best if you can pull it off, but the problem is that it requires society to do the right thing for decades whereas an overthrow of capitalism can be done in weeks.
- RedCondor 4y ago
  The only reason 2. happened anywhere on Earth for any period of time is because 1. happened in another. In other words, 1. is responsible for both 1. and 2. https://redsails.org/concessions/ https://redsails.org/concessions/
kelseyfrog 4y ago
Dual currencies. Denominate capital in USDC and keep USD for everything else. Make conversion from USDC to USD transparent/illegal/a-point-of-friction/technically-impossible/socially-impossible/whatever-else.
drewcoo 4y ago
Elect a 3rd party that is willing to curtail the SCOTUS's power?

How do you prevent capitalism and dollars being free speech from turning into oligarchy? Asking for a friend. Actually, a few billion friends, come to think of it.

wongarsu 4y ago

It seems incredibly hard to get right. On the other hand many countries seem to get it less wrong than the US, so maybe that's a good starting point. One thing that immediately comes to mind is that first-past-the-post voting systems seem to produce pretty bad results, basically always devolving into a two party system which enables easy us-vs-them rhetoric. And while people love to debate which alternative system is the absolute best, there are many in use around the world that produce better results.

vitessa 4y ago

You can’t. You have three options: 1. A violent revolution against capitalism that destroys it. 2. You slowly contain capitalism and wind it down, making the elite increasingly irrelevant, as it appeared the US and Europe might have been on track to do from 1933-73, until you’ve basically achieved socialism without necessarily calling it that. 3. Capitalism continues to corrode the restraints put in place to contain it until you have an oligarchic nightmare like the US. 3 is completely unacceptable; 1 is a bit better but still involves people getting killed. 2 is probably best if you can pull it off, but the problem is that it requires society to do the right thing for decades whereas an overthrow of capitalism can be done in weeks.

RedCondor 4y ago
The only reason 2. happened anywhere on Earth for any period of time is because 1. happened in another. In other words, 1. is responsible for both 1. and 2. https://redsails.org/concessions/ https://redsails.org/concessions/

kelseyfrog 4y ago

Dual currencies. Denominate capital in USDC and keep USD for everything else. Make conversion from USDC to USD transparent/illegal/a-point-of-friction/technically-impossible/socially-impossible/whatever-else.

drewcoo 4y ago

Elect a 3rd party that is willing to curtail the SCOTUS's power?