tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post9033143750881958984..comments2024-03-19T06:49:20.449+09:00Comments on BigHominid's Hairy Chasms: epistocracy?Kevin Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01328790917314282058noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post-40887480983756209952016-09-10T20:04:44.505+09:002016-09-10T20:04:44.505+09:00"The one restriction I see should be that any..."The one restriction I see should be that anyone receiving welfare, grants, or any unearned money from the government should not be allowed to vote." If this applied to business owners who received grants and farmers who get aid, who would be left to vote?<br /><br />I forget which American billionaire - Buffett, I think - who stated that he paid less tax than one of his secretary. These tax rebates or lower rates should surely disqualify a person of the right to vote if collection of welfare does.<br /><br />" That is like the wolf voting on dinner with the sheep" This sounds like an appropriate attack on Citizens United.Surprises Aplentyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14178013380916292778noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post-61012893897633968542016-09-10T13:08:26.391+09:002016-09-10T13:08:26.391+09:00Nathan,
Yeah, wild-eyed anybody is usually bad ne...Nathan,<br /><br />Yeah, wild-eyed <i>anybody</i> is usually bad news.Kevin Kimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01328790917314282058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post-11086764512630335942016-09-10T12:27:09.778+09:002016-09-10T12:27:09.778+09:00That's interesting, Kevin. I tend to see bitt...That's interesting, Kevin. I tend to see bitter complaints about "the elite(s)" only from those on the right. Sometimes, I see the term used by journalists who are trying to see the world through the eyes of those on the populist right. <br /><br />For short, I like to refer to the wealthiest of the wealthy as the "one-percenters," but in my reading and writing, I usually find that phrases are used to describe them, rather than single terms. I don't read wild-eyed leftist bloggers, but I do like to read The Guardian and the New York Times, among others, and of course they skew in a leftward direction. Nathan B.http://nathanbauman.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post-26920073671935386702016-09-09T17:49:01.061+09:002016-09-09T17:49:01.061+09:00Nathan,
Funnily enough, I've noticed that bot...Nathan,<br /><br />Funnily enough, I've noticed that both sides of the right/left aisle use the term "the elite" (uncountable noun) or "the elites" (countable noun) in their discussions of power dynamics. Oligarchy, indeed.Kevin Kimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01328790917314282058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post-59813147124741046572016-09-09T14:59:29.750+09:002016-09-09T14:59:29.750+09:00I personally would class America as more of an oli...I personally would class America as more of an oligarchy than a democracy. The true powers--the wealthiest who own the largest corporations--control how people can vote by controlling the quality and kinds of information they have access to. People can't make informed votes in that kind of a system. Then, too, there is the fact that so many important members of both parties in both Houses of Congress are beholden to corporate vested interests. Actually, I think many of the developed democracies of the world, including the one I live in, are headed in that same direction. It's very sad. <br /><br />The US has the added twist of being a race-based oligarchy, though--hence all those voter suppression bills in the South. No sooner does the US Supreme Court strike them down then the various southern state legislatures and county officials try to accomplish through different means the same end again: the disenfranchisement of the Black vote. It's happening so often and with such obvious venom directed against the Blacks that I'm reminded of the enforced differences between the Spartiates and the helots in ancient Sparta. Nathan B.http://nathanbauman.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post-19496070800807242572016-09-09T00:08:10.875+09:002016-09-09T00:08:10.875+09:00Bill Keezer comments via email:
I have written on...Bill Keezer comments via email:<br /><br /><b>I have written on this in the past, and come to the conclusion that so-called low-information voters have just as much a stake in government as the well-educated. I see this as just another argument for the rule by elitists. The one restriction I see should be that anyone receiving welfare, grants, or any unearned money from the government should not be allowed to vote. That is like the wolf voting on dinner with the sheep, and is the biggest source of vote-buying in this country.</b>Kevin Kimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01328790917314282058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post-23715899153282722202016-09-08T16:01:30.751+09:002016-09-08T16:01:30.751+09:00It seems like communism, an ideal that theoretical...It seems like communism, an ideal that theoretically looks great, with no way to get there.Surprises Aplentyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14178013380916292778noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post-12324011299030080682016-09-08T16:00:34.532+09:002016-09-08T16:00:34.532+09:00Winston Churchill: "The best argument against...Winston Churchill: "The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter." That was a long time ago, however, and these days it only take a minute or two.<br /><br />America began as an "epistocracy" of sorts, but it was founded on a base of "patriarchy" and "white supremacism," and therefore was inherently evil. In its present-day form, American democracy is not genuine "rule of the people," the literal meaning of the word derived from the original Greek, but rather mere "management of the people."<br /><br />Unfortunately, our managerial elites are not wise "philosopher kings" of the kind advocated by Plato, but rather the silver-tongued handmaidens of darker forces standing in the shadows behind them. And they will never relinquish power without violent revolution against them. Thanks to feminism, football and Facebook, however, Americans are just too soft and deracinated at this point in their history to muster the necessary fortitude for radical change.<br /><br />It's all just entertainment at this point, folks. Grab some popcorn and enjoy <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKH6PAoUuD0" rel="nofollow">The Show.</a>King Baeksuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15106210206814275410noreply@blogger.com