Say my name

Coob rudely quotes me without issuing a trackback.

P6 says:

essentially, that once you have agreed that government is a job for the full-time expert and that ''rule by the people'' is literally impossible, you need some way in which the ordinary man can stop the elite from walking off with the store.

I say:
What is it that the common man knows that is so important that he should control government? Nothing. It is not so important as the fact that the common man outnumbers the uncommon man.

Where is there anything in the quote about the common man controlling the government?

What it says is, the elite must be prevented from walking off with the store. Isn't that what it says?

Let me check again…

Yup. That's what it says.The rest of the post has nothing to do with the quoted material. But some of it deserves comment:

If one desires a representative government one must be aware that there is a limited amount of consensus that is possible from the masses. There are the inevitable mathematics that a Greatest Common Factor among the masses won't be particularly high. The greater the actual number of diverse people, the lower that GCF will be.

The masses are all ants without a queen. They experiment and try every which way to get over. Once they succeed in finding a way, they will discipline themselves to that way and their achievement depends upon their ability to successfully negoitiate the factors that change the conditions under which their original success flourished. The better they are at this, the more they become an elite power. An elite is created by success. Achievement requires focus and discipline, such are the very things that differentiate one from the masses.

Success in this society is indicated by possession of wealth. Since that wealth can be inherited, not all the "elite" became so due to their own discipline and skills. Many of them simply must maintain rather than create…and because they have inherited wealth their education is directed toward keeping it, toward learning the various ways to game the system.

You know what I would like? I would like my friends to stop pretending everyone starts with a clean slate. Stop pretending we have a 100% market economy. And stop pretending we can get to a 100% market economy from here. That way you can stop pretending market forces are the only things that shape the society and culture.

Posted by Prometheus 6 on November 3, 2003 - 6:50am :: Seen online
 
 

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damn. i can't get anything past you. that's what i get for taking stuff out of 'draft' that's been sitting in the queue for 2 months. but i'd rather have it out, stupid and wrong than sitting around as if i didn't think it.it's fodder for thought. when it comes more fully formed, i'll come more correct.

Posted by  Cobb (not verified) on November 3, 2003 - 9:04am.

I would hope you're not trying to get anything past me.

Posted by  P6 (not verified) on November 3, 2003 - 9:39am.

You know what I would like? I would like my friends to stop pretending everyone starts with a clean slate. Stop pretending we have a 100% market economy. And stop pretending we can get to a 100% market economy from here. That way you can stop pretending market forces are the only things that shape the society and culture.When you are born, when you leave your mother's womb, and the doctor picks you up, the drawing on the slate starts. Some babies are born with more cleaner slates. And that's just the damn truth. And if you think cute little infants aren't judge, your a fool also.

Posted by  S-Train (not verified) on November 3, 2003 - 4:11pm.

Um, you went further back than I intended.

Posted by  P6 (not verified) on November 3, 2003 - 5:37pm.