tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post2693905111803979625..comments2024-03-29T02:19:19.866-04:00Comments on Mike Norman Economics: Lawfare — Here’s How the Capitol Mob Violated Federal Criminal Law mike normanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03296006882513340747noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-86775691617525276902021-01-13T14:41:21.687-05:002021-01-13T14:41:21.687-05:00Peter Pan:All they had to do was allow ordinary pe...Peter Pan:<i>All they had to do was allow ordinary people to put a roof over their heads and food on the table. Would that have infringed on their power and control?</i><br /><br />Yes, of course. Enormously and decisively. It's a major step out of naivete to realize this. This prevention is the primary and conscious means that rulers maintain power and control, not some inadvertent side effect.Calgacushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06031818010224747000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-27494430891893784342021-01-10T16:46:47.261-05:002021-01-10T16:46:47.261-05:00https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2021/01/09/the-boot-i...https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2021/01/09/the-boot-is-coming-down-hard-and-fast/Peter Panhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09473311771939167712noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-79302393000019212452021-01-10T16:10:04.429-05:002021-01-10T16:10:04.429-05:00re: power and control and the "enduring quest...re: power and control and the "enduring question"<br /><br />There is a single reality and different perceptions of that reality. Here is our perception of reality:<br /><br /><i><b>His Will</b><br />He Most High wills all that exists and directs all events. Nothing occurs in the physical or spiritual world, be it meager or much, little or great, good or evil, of benefit or detriment, faith or unbelief, knowledge or ignorance, triumph or ruin, increase or decrease, obedience or sin; save through His ordinance, apportionment, wisdom, and decision. What He wills is, and what He does not will is not. Neither sidelong glance nor passing thought is beyond His design. He originates all and returns it, does what He wills, and none can repulse His command. There is no rescinding His destiny, no flight for a servant from disobeying Him except through divinely given success therein and mercy, and no strength to obey Him save through His choice and decree. If all mankind, jinn, angels, and devils combined their efforts to move or to still a single particle of the universe without His will and choice, they would be unable to. His will, like His other attributes, exists in His entity and He ever possesses it. He has willed from preeternity the existence of all things at the times He has chosen. They occur at the times which He has destined from beginingless eternity, occurring neither before nor after, but taking place in accordance with His knowledge and will, without substitution or alteration. He directs events without successive thoughts or waiting for time to elapse, which is why nothing diverts Him from anything else.</i> <br />—Ghazali (<i>The Jerusalem Treatise</i>)<br /><br /><i>Nor is this enough; it is a contradiction for all the angels and demons together to be able to move a wisp of straw.</i> —Nicolas MalebrancheAhmed Fareshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07105255828394485657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-87114128892504171982021-01-10T15:14:11.495-05:002021-01-10T15:14:11.495-05:00This problem won't be overcome entirely until ...<i>This problem won't be overcome entirely until humans view humanity as their in-group.</i> Tom Hickey<br /><br />That's pretty much true now yet we still have, for example, Christians in the US oppressing fellow Christians in the US because that's the way the system is set up - contrary to the Bible they purport to believe.Andrew Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14296407661618321637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-15777691985397989822021-01-10T14:57:13.584-05:002021-01-10T14:57:13.584-05:00All they had to do was allow ordinary people to pu...<i>All they had to do was allow ordinary people to put a roof over their heads and food on the table. Would that have infringed on their power and control? The mentality of the ruling class remains mired in the jungle. Its one of the reasons that civilizations are destined for failure.</i><br /><br />The incentive to accumulate — position, power and wealth is a "natural" one. It is an extension of evolutionary traits that benefit survival and reproduction of individuals and their in-groups.<br /><br />This problem won't be overcome entirely until humans view humanity as their in-group.<br /><br />It's not all bad. We are making some progress in that direction as a species.Tom Hickeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08454222098667643650noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-56643021501388892412021-01-10T14:53:46.413-05:002021-01-10T14:53:46.413-05:00All they had to do was allow ordinary people to pu...<i>All they had to do was allow ordinary people to put a roof over their heads and food on the table.</i> Peter Pan<br /><br />Yes except two root causes conspire against that, both contrary to the Bible:<br /><br />1) Government privileges for private credit creation.<br /><br />2) No limits to the concentration of land ownership, especially agricultural land.<br /><br />Btw, so far, the MMT School proposes to do nothing about either.Andrew Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14296407661618321637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-90276346602082129222021-01-10T14:26:29.555-05:002021-01-10T14:26:29.555-05:00All they had to do was allow ordinary people to pu...All they had to do was allow ordinary people to put a roof over their heads and food on the table. Would that have infringed on their power and control?<br /><br />The mentality of the ruling class remains mired in the jungle. Its one of the reasons that civilizations are destined for failure.Peter Panhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09473311771939167712noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-20732017702825365442021-01-10T13:57:22.889-05:002021-01-10T13:57:22.889-05:00Politics is about power and control. This is a rea...Politics is about power and control. This is a reason that libertarians, anarchists, and fellow travelers want to get rid of government or least greatly limit its reach over lives and property (think "taxes").<br /><br />But human nature being what it is, a group of people without governance is no guarantee that the rule of the jungle, that is, of the stronger, won't dominate. <br /><br />Politics is about power and control because people seek power and control. The rule of law rather than the rule of men is an answer but there are many variations of this. In reality, the rule of law per se doesn't obviate the rule of men intruding, since laws need to be made in general, specifically interpreted in context, and enforced by an authority.<br /><br />This is one of the most basic issues in social and political philosophy, and there are many approaches to it.<br /><br />Because it is still unanswered in the sense that no one system prevails and is uncontested, it remains one of the "enduring questions."Tom Hickeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08454222098667643650noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-59931535171481500072021-01-10T13:33:20.088-05:002021-01-10T13:33:20.088-05:00There are authoritarians and there are those who m...There are authoritarians and there are those who make authoritarianism inevitable. The ruling class and their propaganda arm are doing everything they can to make authoritarianism inevitable.<br /><br />(Polemicists will substitute fascism for authoritarianism, yet the historical definition makes clear which players in the current drama are the fascists.)Peter Panhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09473311771939167712noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-83314681603326629852021-01-10T11:06:53.074-05:002021-01-10T11:06:53.074-05:00My son, fear the Lord and the king;
Do not associa...<i>My son, fear the Lord and the king;<br />Do not associate with those who are given to change,<br />For their calamity will rise suddenly,<br />And who knows the ruin that comes from both of them? </i> Proverbs 24:21-23<br /><br />That said, we'd do very well to have an election system beyond any reproach.Andrew Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14296407661618321637noreply@blogger.com