These are strange times indeed in my view. I am interested in your thoughts on what will arise out of the ashes (assuming something different does arise.)
Someone once said "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years."
As we watch the unfolding bankrupcy of democracy in the place where democracy was said to be invented, I can't help but be curious about where our world will be after we work through our current world messes.
Capitalism seems to deliver a lot of good things, but unfortunately, ultimately the business cycles result in an
increasing number of monopoly and oligopoly situations which seem to me to concentrate capital causing problems with free
markets. Charge what the market will bear is destructive ultimately. There are also problems with items which can not be measured in money (environment, quality of life, truth, freedom etc.) , I think largely because accounting can't value them properly (assuming that the accountants are not acting as advocates but are valuating companies honestly). The market can't act as a balancing mechanism for improper valuations for those improperly valued items.
Socialism is a wonderful theory but tends to cause issues in the long run because too few want to step up and pay the bill. Liberals (and many other such parties) are just different mixes of "socialist-lite" or entitlementism in my view. The increasing use of socialism in capital societies to support failing or failed welfare companies I suspect leads eventually to the same issue as the quote above. A book I read in university, called the real world of
democracy essentially said that socialism and capitalism were identical except for who the small group of planners were - government or wealthy capitalists.
Religion (or what ever kind of spirituality one chooses) seems to be on the way out unfortunately and the rampant increasing corruption and moral decline is a sign to me that we are fast approaching a major change in worldviews. (This can happen suddenly or over centuries I think.) There is some hope in that charity often appears when people become very wealthy. When you can't take it with you, why not leave a legacy?
It seems to me that the cause of many world problems is the concentration away from the balancing middle. Trends gone too far, unions with too much power, government with too much power, organized crime with too much power, corporations with too much power. Too much is too much no matter what individuals see as the ideal. One side being totally good and the other being totally evil is nonsense and another issue of the extremism away from the balancing middle in my view.
Or are we doomed yet again to the "tragedy of the commons" which seemingly causes issues for the world, no matter what path we go down. Will we choose our fate or will it choose us?
Since one of the few things that separate us from animals is the ability to co-operate to achieve more as a group than separately, there must be a better way to co-operate for the good of us all. But what is that way? How do we divy up goods and ensure a fair "payment" whether in goods, labor, services or something else. I thought some on this site might be able to help out.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Someone once said "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years."
As we watch the unfolding bankrupcy of democracy in the place where democracy was said to be invented, I can't help but be curious about where our world will be after we work through our current world messes.
Capitalism seems to deliver a lot of good things, but unfortunately, ultimately the business cycles result in an
increasing number of monopoly and oligopoly situations which seem to me to concentrate capital causing problems with free
markets. Charge what the market will bear is destructive ultimately. There are also problems with items which can not be measured in money (environment, quality of life, truth, freedom etc.) , I think largely because accounting can't value them properly (assuming that the accountants are not acting as advocates but are valuating companies honestly). The market can't act as a balancing mechanism for improper valuations for those improperly valued items.
Socialism is a wonderful theory but tends to cause issues in the long run because too few want to step up and pay the bill. Liberals (and many other such parties) are just different mixes of "socialist-lite" or entitlementism in my view. The increasing use of socialism in capital societies to support failing or failed welfare companies I suspect leads eventually to the same issue as the quote above. A book I read in university, called the real world of
democracy essentially said that socialism and capitalism were identical except for who the small group of planners were - government or wealthy capitalists.
Religion (or what ever kind of spirituality one chooses) seems to be on the way out unfortunately and the rampant increasing corruption and moral decline is a sign to me that we are fast approaching a major change in worldviews. (This can happen suddenly or over centuries I think.) There is some hope in that charity often appears when people become very wealthy. When you can't take it with you, why not leave a legacy?
It seems to me that the cause of many world problems is the concentration away from the balancing middle. Trends gone too far, unions with too much power, government with too much power, organized crime with too much power, corporations with too much power. Too much is too much no matter what individuals see as the ideal. One side being totally good and the other being totally evil is nonsense and another issue of the extremism away from the balancing middle in my view.
Or are we doomed yet again to the "tragedy of the commons" which seemingly causes issues for the world, no matter what path we go down. Will we choose our fate or will it choose us?
Since one of the few things that separate us from animals is the ability to co-operate to achieve more as a group than separately, there must be a better way to co-operate for the good of us all. But what is that way? How do we divy up goods and ensure a fair "payment" whether in goods, labor, services or something else. I thought some on this site might be able to help out.
Thanks for your thoughts.
