Some Thoughts On Politics
In law a man is guilty when he violates the rights of others. In ethics he is guilty if he only thinks of doing so.
~ Immanuel Kant
Fascism is capitalism in decay.
~ Vladimir Lenin
Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.
~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
From the deepest desires often come the deadliest hate.
~ Socrates
“All violence is the result of people tricking themselves into believing that their pain derives from other people and that consequently those people deserve to be punished.”
~ Marshall B. Rosenberg
Plato’s Five Regimes:
Aristocracy
Timocracy
Oligarchy
Democracy
Tyranny
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs:
Physiological
Safety
Social
Esteem
Self Actualization
There needs to be a better hierarchy of needs created in the future but for now this will be the one referenced.
Game Theory:
“If there’s a disaster, do you go over to your neighbor’s house with: a) a covered dish or b) a shotgun? It’s game theory. If you believe your neighbor is coming over with a shotgun, you’d be an idiot to pick a); if she believes the same thing about you, you can bet she’s not going to choose a) either. The way to get to a) is to do a) even if you think your neighbor will pick b). Sometimes she’ll point her gun at you and tell you to get off her land, but if she was only holding the gun because she thought you’d have one, then she’ll put on the safety and you can have a potluck.”
~ Cory Doctorow, Walkaway
Tragedy of the Commons:
““Commons. Common land that belongs to no one. Villages had commons where anyone could bring their livestock for a day’s grazing. The tragedy part is that if the land isn’t anyone’s, then someone will come along and let their sheep eat until there’s nothing but mud. Everyone knows that that bastard is on the way, so they might as well be that bastard. Better that sheep belonging to a nice guy like you should fill their bellies than the grass going to some selfish dickhead’s sheep.”
“Sounds like bullshit to me.”
“Oh, it is,” Hubert, Etc said. The thing was moving in his guts, setting his balls and face tingling. “It’s more than mere bullshit. It’s searing, evil, world-changing bullshit. The solution to the tragedy of the commons isn’t to get a cop to make sure sociopaths aren’t overgrazing the land, or shunning anyone who does it, turning him into a pariah. The solution is to let a robber-baron own the land that used to be everyone’s, because once he’s running it for profit, he’ll take exquisite care to generate profit forever.””
~ Cory Doctorow, Walkaway
Fascism, bigotry, ableism, hate, learned -isms and phobic thought are not conductive to the individual nor society. We must strive to break down these ideological crutches.
Inner pain, learned behavior, apathy, greed, fear, and needs not being met (Maslow’s Hierarchy) are the root of cause of cruelty and evil.
A system that promotes financial gain at the expense of humanity and ethics is a corrupt system not meant to benefit the entirety of society and therefore cannot solve society’s problems.
An economy based on endless growth is unsustainable. In order to give the appearance of stability in such a system, groups of people will be identified as ‘other’ and wars created cyclically. This staves off total collapse temporarily.
Believing that a system that has caused catastrophic climate change will somehow create a way to save us from it, is suicide. …
If we are a divided people, democracy cannot be sustained. If democracy cannot be sustained, solutions to our current climate and environmental crisis cannot be passed. Divided we all loose.
*This post is a work in progress and may be updated in the future.