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 Zenphamy 12 years, 1 month ago
    Really well written and highly pertinent. I enjoyed the article and look forward to finishing Pinnacle.

    Thank You.
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  • Posted by Hiraghm 12 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    War also serves to provide goods, protection, and land for the people.
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  • Posted by Hiraghm 12 years, 1 month ago
    A part of the analogy you miss is the greedy and unscrupulous nature of the peasant class. Like the revolting (in both meanings of the word) of of the peasant class of the French revolution, the modern, artificially created peasant class in the U.S. is also full of greed and envy. They've been taught to want the unearned, like the French peasants; they've been indoctrinated in blind bigotry, like the French peasants; they've been convinced that they bear no responsibility for their lives, like the French peasants. And they've been convinced that anyone who doesn't toe the politically correct line is an enemy of "the people", and therefor evil and worthy of death.

    The greatest sin of the progressives working as Republicans and Democrats is the creation of the peasant class in America.
    -------------------
    Rudyard Kipling
    Macdonough's Song

    "As easy as A B C"--A Diversity of Creatures"

    Whether the State can loose and bind
    In Heaven as well as on Earth:
    If it be wiser to kill mankind
    Before or after the birth--
    These are matters of high concern
    Where State-kept schoolmen are;
    But Holy State (we have lived to learn)
    Endeth in Holy War.

    Whether The People be led by The Lord,
    Or lured by the loudest throat:
    If it be quicker to die by the sword
    Or cheaper to die by vote--
    These are things we have dealt with once,
    (And they will not rise from their grave)
    For Holy People, however it runs,
    Endeth in wholly Slave.

    Whatsoever, for any cause,
    Seeketh to take or give
    Power above or beyond the Laws,
    Suffer it not to live!
    Holy State or Holy King--
    Or Holy People's Will--
    Have no truck with the senseless thing.
    Order the guns and kill!
    Saying --after--me:--

    Once there was The People--Terror gave it birth;
    Once there was The People and it made a Hell of Earth
    Earth arose and crushed it. Listen, 0 ye slain!
    Once there was The People--it shall never be again!
    --------

    One might call that a republican mantra.
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  • Posted by dbhalling 12 years, 1 month ago
    Awesome and you answered my China question. I have noticed the Keynesian economic planning of china, but wondered how bad it was. I worry that China is similar to Japan before WWII. Economic prosperity but the ruling class never embraced freedom. I see China's military and ruling class wanting more respect, which makes the prospect of them starting a war large, particularly if their economy falls apart.
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