political theory
Is 'Western civilization' a real thing or a brand?: Civilizational defenders
The execution and the guilt In 399 BCE, Athens executed Socrates for asking questions. That fact — that the civilization killed its greatest philosopher and then spent twenty-four centuries feeling guilty about it — tells you more about what we mean by "the West" than any... Freedom- Identity vs Practice . American society is steeped in independence.
We inherit it, however, do we wield it?
Our founding documents frame liberty as fundamental— The Declaration of independence, The Constitution.Freedom can be looked at as protection from government. It also is freedom as participation in government.
When we are in the frame of mind that says “I value freedom, I am free, the system must be working” alone, we may find our selves speaking of “the government” as a ‘them’.
“They drive costs up. They are pushing this agenda. They don’t listen.”
Yet we are free enough to participate in government. We may still call and write to elected and appointed officials. We may still vote, run for office.
Yet we speak of ‘the government’, like a foreign entity. Not our government, my state’s government, our city, my government.
Many feel separated from power, or bemoan ‘the powers that be’. So many day to day feel powerless.
Stuck in a broken systemFreedom then is not the insulation from power, it is the ownership, visibility, toolage, and proximity to it.
In a Republic, “they, the government” is psychological distance. It is protective. Reinforced by ourselves and those around us.
But are on a precipice. Not because we lack freedom in totality. Not fully, but instead teeter and sway because we are drift from freedom.
Freedom as ownership of happenings
A republic does not collapse when rights are removed. Not at once in an instant
It erodes when responsibility is abandoned.
If we insist on calling it “the government,”
we will eventually get exactly that.
The question is not whether we are free.
The question is whether we are acting like it.
Are you?
The foundation itself is faulty in ways that we were disabled in perceiving via controlled introduction and idealized history. ‘We the People’ has been as misunderstood and poorly applied as , for example, ‘working class’ has been oft spoken of and mixed with middle class, to... Incorruptible Organizations AMA with Eric Ries. Wednesday 2/4 at 3:00 PM CT
Lean Startup author who now focuses on legal structures to protect mission-driven organizations from corruption. incorruptible.co
Free book giveaway! Register here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNfb54LuzwIAt core, your statement is anti-authoritarian. At core, the most anti-authoritarian ideology in existence is called "Anarchism". Perhaps you think of yourself as an Anarchist. I think you're not one. To oppose all forms of organization isn't Anarchist.... - Democracy is broken. We can’t make democracy work at scale given current tech levels. It’s not even “the best bad idea we have so far.” It’s just broken.No one is qualified to lead hundreds of millions of people at the nexus of a global economy. No one is even qualified to evaluate whether someone else might do it. So we fall back to the best marketer/influencer, which is worse than many other potential options.#Deeptakes
I wish I knew. I don't really have a manifesto about it or a plan, but my frame or hope when I wrote this was trying to pop people out the assumption that democracy is obviously great and definitely work once we correct a few recent minor issues.... - Democracy is broken. We can’t make democracy work at scale given current tech levels. It’s not even “the best bad idea we have so far.” It’s just broken.No one is qualified to lead hundreds of millions of people at the nexus of a global economy. No one is even qualified to evaluate whether someone else might do it. So we fall back to the best marketer/influencer, which is worse than many other potential options.#Deeptakes
Well, just to calibrate, I find it plausible that a literally random lottery for all high offices would be an improvement. Maybe with some very basic inclusion criteria, so that every election cycle we get a basically normal person to just fuck around and find out.... American aristocracy could learn some things from the old world
A big American founding myth is that we eliminated the aristocracy from our government, but the real American innovation is making it much easier to join the aristocracy starting as an outsider. Sure, great. A little closer to meritocracy, one hopes....