Freedom of Speech and Thought

[Zmid]

I've just come back from watching Alexander...the 3 hour film which could have been done in 1. However, it got me to thinking that Alexander is really what the modern world lacks. We're so pent up in our democratic, equalisitic ways that we have no direction. We're at a stalemate of advancement as there's no driving force...

 

... When the people believe in someone, even by religion, the efficiency of the state picks up drastically. If the people have a cause, for example WW2, efficiency goes up. We're currently in this state of democracy where nothing of any real importance gets passed because 50% of people think its wrong and 50% of people believe it's right. But when you have belief and faith in a man, such as Alexander who has not been placed there by some divine force, but through noble birth, and the people have faith in the nobility, that is when things really happen.

 

You wouldn't question Alexander unless you knew him as a brother, for fear of death. Yet Alexander, on the whole, has a moral heart and the good of his people as his goal.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

What you're talking about is the fact that a dictatorship is the most efficient form of government. The reason for this is quite simple - there is practically no such thing as red tape. The dictator in question simply says 'do this or get your head chopped off', and any red tape there was magically disappears.

 

And that is fine - as long as you get a dictator who genuinely puts the wants and needs of the people they rule first, even above their own wants and needs, and who will not be corrupted by the absolute power they hold. The problem is in finding such a person, and the fact that it is generally the people who will be corrupted by this power who actually fight to seize power and become a dictator.

 

We've just had a nasty situation in my home-town. The local council of 27 people are corrupt. These democratic civil servants raised their allowances in November of 2003 by over 65% ignoring all pleas from the public to reduce them back to normal. They claimed that the work they did entitled them to more money. But when they agreed to the job a year previously they knew very well what they'd be doing and very well what they get paid. It would be like George Bush deciding he'd take 5% of all American taxes and placing it in his wallet.

 

Yet the people are helpless to do anything and the politicians are too scared to do anything. So these biggots not only get their payrise, but they also get to rule over Torbay (population 150,000) for another 2 years.

 

This simply highlights a problem in the details of how the system works - these councillors obviously have no accountability to the people of Torbay. This simply means the system needs to be modified...

 

So a plan has been drawn up, one by which the councillors will be replaced by a directly elected mayor. Directly elected by the people. The mayor decides everything, and he'll have a panel of 10 councillors to guide and help him in his task. The people decide the mayor, so if he's a crackhead with no education, we can only blame ourselves.

 

...for example, like this.

 

The point: I believe people should make sacrifices in the knowledge that progress will be made.

 

Progress towards what, exactly?

 

Since when have people become so arrogant to believe that it's their right as human-beings to always have their way?

 

Since humanity began. The only difference is that, in the past, those stronger have forced those weaker to do their bidding in order to have their own way.

 

What almighty duty has everyone performed that entitles them to this mythical universal right of humanity?

 

Being born. Think of the very definition of 'humanity', and perhaps you'll get what I mean.

 

We haven't done Jack Schitt to deserve it, yet we arrogantly believe we do.

 

Why?

 

We also haven't done Jack Schitt to be denied it.