In many discussions anywhere right of center, the no good choices assertion regularly appears. It looks like this: all the options we are given lately come down not to a good choice and an evil choice, but to an evil choice and a less evil choice. I’m not disputing this truism. But I would like [...]
Posts Tagged ‘democracy’
Democracy Needs Aristocracy, by Sir Peregrine Worsthorne
Democracy Needs Aristocracy by Sir Peregrine Worsthorne 221 pages, Harper Collins, $15. In the early pages of Democracy Needs Aristocracy the author mentions Alexis de Toqueville and his groundbreaking Democracy in America and not surprisingly, the newer work continues in the footsteps of that classic with a broad-reaching thesis on the nature of government that [...]
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On a philosophical level, before we even get to any practical implications, I object to the idea of equality. Equality presupposes a universal state in which abstract objects are equal like numbers, which being purely abstract can of course be equal. We can talk safely about 4×3 being equal to 12, but if we are [...]
Brainslug owns you
When you wake up to this planet, you realise one thing sticking out the side of people’s heads; their thoughts are not their own but are subservient toward a domesticating agent, a memetic Brainslug. We can coalesce many ill thought out ideologies with little substance and stereotype them as Crowdism. Crowdism contains memes such as [...]
The world as a dojo
Imagine a world that was more like a martial arts dojo, less like an amusement park and trash dump. Personal integrity and earned respect would take the place of pretentious fantasy personalities empowered by equal rights. The novice multitudes in life would find themselves accountable to rather than the social equals of the fewer masters [...]
Remaking modern society
Some metal message board member offers a challenge. Assumption: we often discuss politics and this domain has its own definite views. But we are taught democracy, capitalism and liberal civil/women’s rights together comprise “freedom,” and that anything but freedom is “bad.” So what can we do? We shrug and watch the ongoing travesty, certain we [...]
False dilemma emerges from Fort Hood
Why are we not surprised? Here is yet another case where only two sides are considered, neither of which is the actual cause of the problem. “Preliminary reports indicate there was a single shooter that was shot multiple times at the scene,” Cone said at a news conference. “However, he was not killed as previously [...]
Progressive society is no less barbaric
Thanks to accessible technology, which like so much in life is both blessing and curse, we have ready access to limitless amounts of information. By necessity, news items have an expiration time until they soon pass from the front page and eventually from our memory as consumers. This gives us a challenge for finding specific [...]
Universal morality on its death bed
The War on Inequality continues its slow march to the margins of credibility with this latest piece from the economics angle. “We have to tolerate the inequality as a way to achieve greater prosperity and opportunity for all,” Brian Griffiths, who was a special adviser to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, said yesterday at [...]
Social networking sites can highlight social weaknesses
A while ago, I friended a family friend’s son on Facebook. Nice guy, always pretty quiet, but generally reasonable – at least, that’s how I had known him in the 90s, and I hadn’t really seen him much since. After friending him and his sister, I realized both were Ron Paul supporters. Sure, this could [...]
