Ceteris paribus dictatorships work better than democracies.
You’ve never lived under a dictatorship have you? I strongly disagree with the above statement and think it’s another good example of your first point.
AFAIK dictatorships are higher variance than democracies, but on average they aren’t too differerent (in terms of GDP at least). Most intuitive explanation: a good dictator can do really good things and a bad dictator can do really bad things, but good and bad democracies aren’t able to do as much good/bad because the political system moves like molasses.
This is the common wisdom at the moment but it’s far too short-termist. All theories are provisional and eventually your enlightened dictator will find themselves on the wrong side of history and need to be removed. Of course you can build a democracy which can’t do that and a dictatorship which can but I suspect the “moves like molasses” aspect moves with this quality and not the voting ritual.
All theories are provisional and eventually your enlightened dictator will find themselves on the wrong side of history and need to be removed.
It is most fascinating how often the right side of history coincidences neatly with the interest of the USG and how often their armed forces or intelligence agencies graciously do the removing.
Sorry, bro, but this statement by its very nature deserves a dozen downvotes, never mind coming from a user who was being proudly apolitical and striving for a non-tribal approach to things five minutes ago. It is perfectly clear to me that “the wrong side of history” in the parent, while perhaps being less than gracious rhetorically, was mentioned in good faith, and not intended to invoke such trollish name-calling.
I think you are right. The original statement does seem to be in good faith now that I reread it.
I however do stand behind the statement in general. “The wrong side of history” usually is a euphemism for the “getting on the wrong side of elements in the US government”.
Ideally doing good things shouldn’t be dependent on the political system.
Edit: I just realized the most obvious reading of this comment isn’t the one I intended. I meant that the political system’s job should be to get out of the way of the people trying to create good things.
AFAIK dictatorships are higher variance than democracies, but on average they aren’t too differerent (in terms of GDP at least). Most intuitive explanation: a good dictator can do really good things and a bad dictator can do really bad things, but good and bad democracies aren’t able to do as much good/bad because the political system moves like molasses.
This is the common wisdom at the moment but it’s far too short-termist. All theories are provisional and eventually your enlightened dictator will find themselves on the wrong side of history and need to be removed. Of course you can build a democracy which can’t do that and a dictatorship which can but I suspect the “moves like molasses” aspect moves with this quality and not the voting ritual.
It is most fascinating how often the right side of history coincidences neatly with the interest of the USG and how often their armed forces or intelligence agencies graciously do the removing.
Sorry, bro, but this statement by its very nature deserves a dozen downvotes, never mind coming from a user who was being proudly apolitical and striving for a non-tribal approach to things five minutes ago. It is perfectly clear to me that “the wrong side of history” in the parent, while perhaps being less than gracious rhetorically, was mentioned in good faith, and not intended to invoke such trollish name-calling.
Noticing the enemies of a very powerful organization tend to consistently disappear is not I think an inherently political or tribal stance.
I think you are right. The original statement does seem to be in good faith now that I reread it.
I however do stand behind the statement in general. “The wrong side of history” usually is a euphemism for the “getting on the wrong side of elements in the US government”.
Ideally doing good things shouldn’t be dependent on the political system.
Edit: I just realized the most obvious reading of this comment isn’t the one I intended. I meant that the political system’s job should be to get out of the way of the people trying to create good things.
If you think so, you’re using the wrong ideals, or using them wrong.