4.15.2011

Democracy

Democracy rethunked

The difference between despotism and democracy is whether the leader kills his or her own innocent citizens or innocent citizens somewhere else.

Or at least that is what it feels like living in the United States.

2 comments:

fwoan said...

In a world where "imperialism" is substituted with "freedom" and "democracy", it sure seems.

:-p said...

Yup. And as you know, imperialism has to be sold somehow.

I can't imagine being a leader and saying: I'm going to send you really far away from your friends and family to go kill a bunch of regular people like you. If you don't die, you will live to see either your dishonor in defeat or my increased wealth. Ready?

But I find myself weirdly nostalgic for the idea of wars of conquest. Well not for the war part, or the subjugation part. Maybe just the feeling that there was a tangible goal. You have this particular object in space that I want. Now I am going to try and take it. Much more straightforward than what we have nowadays, though not more moral.

There is a lot of neo-Classical architecture in Washington, DC.