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mcs_987654321 t1_ivltu5e wrote

Reply to comment by PeteButtiCIAg in Reports of alleged voter intimidation and interference in NC ahead of Election Day by Zen1

Oh, a super mish mash of classical and modern political theory, probably with some unconscious influence of sub-game economics thrown in… but definitely NOT some kind of Adam Smith “it’ll all work out in the end” blue sky thinking.

But yeah: plenty of supporting evidence - even given the natural tendency for wealth and power to accrue/compound - that democracies can and do hold up pretty well, so long as you have: 1) some level of variation and competition within the 0.01% and 2) a somewhat functional rules-based system that doesn’t have obvious forum shopping workarounds.

There’s also probably a 3) in the mix that involves the relationship between political/financial and military power, but that’s outside my wheelhouse and has its own particular dynamics and forces.

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PeteButtiCIAg t1_ivlv9zu wrote

Those are some pretty big caveats. The reason I asked is because I was troubled by the cornerstone of "giving a shit". I'm honestly even more troubled now, haha. I've been looking at what we can expect post QE, especially as sovereign debt crises seem to be popping up everywhere. I can see opposed interests continuing (to some extent), but I'm not sure we have models for this level of accumulation. What are the examples?

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mcs_987654321 t1_ivm28zb wrote

Historical examples don’t work all that well as proxies, just bc of the amount of confounding factors and unique tensions inherent to a particular time/place…but feel like the British parliamentary system starting from the Carolean era is a pretty solid example.

Crazy concentrations of power and wealth, all kinds of evil fuckery (many having to do with colonial endeavours), but also a fairly stable country that has mostly rolled with the punches, all things considered.

Of course the UK is also currently shitting the bed, so that’s not exactly encouraging…but yeah: “worst option except all the other ones”.

Still think that democracy is remarkably durable, but also agree that we’re experiencing pretty extreme stresses/conditions, and that structurally flawed systems are going to collapse.

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