An Offer They Can't Refuse

Posted by straightlinelogic 12 years, 1 month ago to Politics
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The following is an excerpt. The full article can be accessed on straightlinelogic.com or by the link above:

Pity the kleptocrats; their position may be even worse than that of the French nobility during the reign of King Louis XVI. French peasants did not have an Internet and news media beaming nonstop images of the glitterati at their watering holes. A lesson from that time remains relevant: enrage enough people and all the king’s horses, guns, spying, and men cannot stop them. One day you’re partying at Versailles, the next day your head is in a basket. Today’s kleptocrats cling to their surveillance apparatuses, militaries, intelligence agencies, and police forces to keep the peasantry in line. None of it will not do them much good if the peasants revolt. No one has yet figured out how to stop a mob with nothing to lose, or prevent it from making the kleptocrats an offer they can’t refuse. That danger, not income inequality, poverty, global warming, or nuclear holocaust, is what keeps the kleptocracy awake at night.


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  • Posted by Hiraghm 12 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    I was thinking more in terms of the Plains Indian wars, the expansion of Egypt, Greece, Rome and Great Britain.
    The Norman conquest, the Saxon invasion of Briton, the Norsemen raids....
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  • Posted by amagi 12 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    Thank you kindly, straightlinelogic, for your most
    generous and helpful offer. In the meantime a
    friend came through and opened the article,
    which is first class ! Very glad to be able to read
    you !
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  • Posted by Robbie53024 12 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    It's not that reason is limited, it's that knowledge is limited.
    There are many problems with socialism, but the primary one from an economic standpoint is that there is incomplete knowledge. Thus, how can a central planner know how much corn to plant, or how many boots to make? Since nearly all socialist economies also are wrapped in a tyrannical state, which rewards over-estimation and punishes those who don't agree to be able to meet the established quota, the info provided is even more skewed from reality.
    Austrians are no fans of socialism, merely pointing out that it is fundamentally flawed. IF that flaw could be overcome, then it would be a viable economic system. BUT NOT necessarily a desirable system for other social impact reasons.
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  • Posted by khalling 12 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    anti-property rights. especially intellectual property. He can be anti-reason. Hayek: reason is limited so that's why we need free markets. If reason wasn't limited, then socialism would be just fine.
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  • Posted by 12 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    Not necessarily. There is a small subset of users, usually those with older, Windows-based (straightlinelogic is done on a Mac) browsers who occasionally cannot access the full text from my straightlinelogic posts. If you are still having problems, send me a private message with your email address and I will send you the article in either Pages or Word.
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  • Posted by ObjectiveAnalyst 12 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    Hello amagi,
    I am having no difficulty linking to the entire article by clicking the heading or the link provided at the bottom.
    I am using Google chrome...
    Respectfully,
    O.A.
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  • Posted by Danno 12 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    Many including myself consider the Korean War a continuation of WW2. North Korea was sovereign when it attacked South Korea. Then the UN (USA), China, and Russia started to explicitly get involved. The US may have orchestrated a False Flag to start the Korean War, as was recently revealed regarding the Vietnam War.
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  • Posted by Danno 12 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    China has never started a war. But it certainly could be a supplier of arms to other direct contenders. Since politicians always search for a scapegoat, I expect the war card to develop and a possible WW3.
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