tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post278356616283185040..comments2024-03-29T17:12:19.648+13:00Comments on Bowalley Road: Democracy's A Drag.Chris Trotterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09081613281183460899noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-44413521467604352502022-03-29T13:20:47.158+13:002022-03-29T13:20:47.158+13:00So Chris, you actually got nothing. No names – and...So Chris, you actually got nothing. No names – and certainly no pack drill. Sorry, but these ideas are tinfoil hat stuff, and I – dammit – forgot to invest in aluminium foil years ago.Guerilla Surgeonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03427876447124021423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-65038645429783282332022-03-28T20:49:04.296+13:002022-03-28T20:49:04.296+13:00GS – That’s the problem with ideologies and their ...GS – That’s the problem with ideologies and their followers – their minds have been made up for them, and the reality outside of the dogma is incomprehensible. Ideology is the perfect system and the answer to every problem, and anyone who doesn’t understand that must be mad, which is why in the Soviet era, dissidents were sent to mental hospitals. <br /><br />I guess you only need one ‘cultural Marxist’ – Gramsci – and the rest follow obediently because he single-handedly changed Marxian dynamics with the introduction of the concept of cultural hegemony. But they’re not ‘cultural Marxists’ since your term is nonsensical. They’re Marxists of one stripe or another with one goal, which to repeat myself and Marx, is the forcible overthrow all existing social conditions. They may call themselves progressives, SJWs, BLM, antifas, socialists, democratic socialists, social democrats, whatever; I just hope not Fabians. Look out for academics who use the term ‘subalterns’, though. That’s a giveaway. And you may not think you’re sniping at straw men, but believe me, that’s exactly what it looks like, since you don’t seem to understand them either.<br />Chris Slaterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14124069845475644823noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-69598202315139544012022-03-27T22:12:22.554+13:002022-03-27T22:12:22.554+13:00I like how your letter section bumps down to the b...I like how your letter section bumps down to the bottom. I don't need to see people not educated by New Zealand's culture first.<br /><br />I despise most of your commenters. Footnoters at best. Apart from GS and others.<br /><br />My English teacher pa was definitely down on the un-understandable poems of the Listener back in the 80s and 90s. His poems were honest but terrible, but I think he got it right about the riddle poems of those times. sumsuchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03133092096534660472noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-14472262962512223582022-03-27T13:22:19.141+13:002022-03-27T13:22:19.141+13:00More stream of consciousness John? It obviously me...More stream of consciousness John? It obviously means something inside your mind, but I doubt if even the one and a half people who bother to comment on your blog can understand this.Guerilla Surgeonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03427876447124021423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-83607989909203004542022-03-27T13:20:35.947+13:002022-03-27T13:20:35.947+13:00No Chris, I'm not responding to strawmen. I...No Chris, I'm not responding to strawmen. I'm simply asking for proof of these cultural Marxists, where they are, who they are, how many of them there are. If it's all as obvious as you say, you should be able to name a few – as I said your hero Jordan Peterson managed four or five. I would have thought they needed more than that to take over the world. The rest of your statement I can't really understand.Guerilla Surgeonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03427876447124021423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-31625362093844571472022-03-27T11:12:33.038+13:002022-03-27T11:12:33.038+13:00There is an element of truth to anti-Semitic theor...There is an element of truth to anti-Semitic theories about the Frankfurt school.<br />One is the cultural memory of the holocaust. The other is Jewish intelligence which (on average) means they are over represented in many fields. <br /><br />The key idea of Critical Theory is deconstruction; the problem is an evolved human nature.<br /><br />Jews are also leading in evolutionary psychology.<br /><br />The arguments against the Camus book are generally inferred, but boil down to "race isn't an objective reality" (neither is <i>blue</i>).John Hurleynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-38151643536443311042022-03-27T08:45:09.310+13:002022-03-27T08:45:09.310+13:00GS – the important thing to understand about cultu...GS – the important thing to understand about cultural Marxism is that its goal – cultural hegemony – affects the Weltanschauung. It’s immersive, immanent and normalised. The process, the ‘long march through the institutions’, is secular and can be applied to any ideology. It was successful with neo-liberalism, and is working very well for Islam. ‘Cultural Marxist’ is your phrase, and not one I’ve ever used because I can’t justify the concept. Similarly with Jews; I’ve never found the need to use this racial or religious identity in any discussion of ideas at any time. They’re not needed for the forcible overthrow all existing social conditions since Marxists are doing it perfectly well themselves. So, it seems that in failing to grasp the concept and significance of cultural Marxism, you’ve resorted to sniping at a cavalcade of straw men.Chris Slaterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14124069845475644823noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-37659537263165969222022-03-26T16:04:04.547+13:002022-03-26T16:04:04.547+13:00Ah, A "nuanced and up-to-date" take on N...Ah, A "nuanced and up-to-date" take on Nazism and anti-Semitism? Similar to neo-Marxism no doubt. Funny, when Jordan Peterson was asked to name some of these "cultural Marxists" whose job it is to take over the world – he managed about five. You think they'd need more wouldn't you? They must be very, very clever to be able to take over the world with so few.<br /><br />Well Chris, Young Shireen claims that nobody uses it in an anti-Semitic way today.She's obviously never heard of William Lind then.<br /><br />"...the theory is that 'a small group of Marxist Jews who formed the Frankfurt School set out to destroy Western Culture through a conspiracy to promote multiculturalism and collectivist economic theories.' Lind began promoting these ideas in the late 1980s and continued to do so throughout the 1990s. In 2002, he even presented them to a Holocaust denial conference sponsored by the anti-Semitic Barnes Review.Anders Breivik was also a fan I believe.<br />Not to mention that extreme right "thinkers" are churning out articles with titles like:<br /><br />"The Frankfurt School and Political Correctness", " Freud and the Frankfurt School"<br />It is supposed to have been introduced in America byA number of people with Jewish sounding names according to extreme right "authorities", and apparently funded by George Soros – Jewish right?<br />So I'm calling Bullshit on Ms Quodosi – and you.<br /><br />Naturally you people would prefer it to be uncoupled from its anti-Semitic beginnings, and for that matter its anti-Semitic continuation. But one of your own, the philosopher Russell Blackford has said:<br /><br />" Like other controversial expressions with complex histories (“political correctness” is another that comes to mind), “cultural Marxism” is a term that needs careful unpacking."<br /><br />The whole idea is lazy thinking, something which Jordan Peterson course is reasonably famous for, and simply one of those conservative buzzwords that evokes the emotional response necessary to stir up the base. Pretty much fact free, however I might change my mind somewhat if you can come up with a list of a couple of hundred cultural Marxists who have wormed their way into positions of influence in NZ universities and government, and who are actively promoting "degeneracy"?<br /><br /><br /><br />Guerilla Surgeonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03427876447124021423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-80814612913620637682022-03-26T13:57:56.265+13:002022-03-26T13:57:56.265+13:00Yes good essay Chris, thanks for the link.
Yarom H...Yes good essay Chris, thanks for the link.<br />Yarom Hazonay confronted the nomenclature issue in his excellent essay, The Challenge of Marxism, and decided, in the absence of anything better to go with "Marxism" for reasons he explains well.<br /><br />Of course, as we've just seen above "Anti-Marxist liberals................. are often not confident they can use the term “Marxist” in good faith to describe those seeking to overthrow them. This is because their tormentors do not follow the precedent of the Communist Party, the Nazis, and various other political movements that branded themselves using a particular party name and issued an explicit manifesto to define it. Instead, they disorient their opponents by referring to their beliefs with a shifting vocabulary of terms, including “the Left,” “Progressivism,” “Social Justice,” “Anti-Racism,” “Anti-Fascism,” “Black Lives Matter,” “Critical Race Theory,” “Identity Politics,” “Political Correctness,” “Wokeness,” and more. When liberals try to use these terms they often find themselves deplored for not using them correctly, and this itself becomes a weapon in the hands of those who wish to humiliate and ultimately destroy them."<br /><br />https://quillette.com/2020/08/16/the-challenge-of-marxism/David Georgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04883628159193125307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-91274820549972935122022-03-26T00:05:43.487+13:002022-03-26T00:05:43.487+13:00GS – “Cultural Marxism (Or rather Bolshevism) is a...GS – “Cultural Marxism (Or rather Bolshevism) is an old Nazi expression…”<br /><br />Well, yes and no. Shireen Qudosi gives a far more nuanced – and up-to-date assessment – of cultural Marxism as a more expressive version of neo-Marxism. The word ‘cultural’ is critically important for revolutionary Marxists. No surprise, then, that they would deflect attention from it by using anti-Semitic tropes.<br /><br />https://shireenqudosi.medium.com/cultural-marxism-understood-7e8b83cf59cb <br />Chris Slaterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14124069845475644823noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-16583979339600887632022-03-24T19:02:34.194+13:002022-03-24T19:02:34.194+13:001st NZ election 1853, Maori were still majority un...1st NZ election 1853, Maori were still majority until 1856-7The Barronnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-59817944901172083862022-03-24T16:14:56.628+13:002022-03-24T16:14:56.628+13:00Rawiri Waititi has commented publicly that "W...Rawiri Waititi has commented publicly that "We [Maori] are sick of trying to manipulate the current system.." and that democracy is bad because "the majority rules."Doug Longmirehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12008729336442910333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-51304762145759050752022-03-24T12:45:07.592+13:002022-03-24T12:45:07.592+13:00You obviously don't know everything David, but...You obviously don't know everything David, but you also don't seem to have made any effort to educate yourself about much of the rest of the world where "free speech is dying". I wasn't so much making the point about that as the fact that over much of the developed world it is your far right mates who are destroying free speech. Something which for reasons of your own you don't write about – either ignorance or disingenuousness. Both of these are dangerous conditions.<br /><br />Cultural Marxism (Or rather Bolshevism) is an old Nazi expression, its antecedents are anti-Semitic. It was used to describe one aspect of Jews in Nazi Germany – Where they were hated for their Bolshevism, AND their capitalism. Another one of those contradictions that conservatives seem to be able to hold in their minds without so much as a tiny hesitation. And it's used often today by anti-Semites - and perhaps the ignorant who know nothing about its origins.<br /><br />And as for CRT, you obviously know nothing about it, your opinion about it is not particularly valid, and you are falling into the trap of accepting Christopher Rufo's position, whether you believe it or not, that (we want) “... to have the public read something crazy and immediately think ‘Critical Race Theory’. We have decodified the term, and will recodify it to annex the entire range of cultural constructions that are unpopular with Americans"<br /><br />He seems to have succeeded with many conservatives, none of whom have read widely about it from what I can see, but he has established a moral panic similar to the witch crazes of the Renaissance, and the satanic panics of the 1980s. Rufo and people like you have politicised this whole affair because you don't like the teaching of anything other than a sanitised version of race relations. Maybe because as the meme says – you don't want to "explain what Granny is doing in the background of that picture in the social studies class".<br /><br />I suspect that threats to our liberal order come more from the banning of any mention of Martin Luther King than learning about New Zealand's history of race relations. It's not pretty, it's never been pretty, and however much you would like to sanitise it, kids are entitled to know about it. God I'm remembering 60 years ago when it was boasted that we had the best race relations in the world. Not remotely true. Certainly not if you were listening to the conversations in the lounge bar of a Friday night. You of course would prefer to hide your head under the blanket and pretend it's not there. Not the way towards a healthy society or healthy race relations.<br /><br />As far as sex and gender is concerned, why is it OTT for kids to learn that some kids have two fathers or two mothers? In countries where there are books in school libraries that explain this, the sky hasn't fallen. In fact my sons school library has for the last God knows how many years had books by Paula Boock (Who even you must realise is a gay author, who discusses some of the problems of gay kids) without anybody complaining or any kid suffering the least bit of harm.<br />I'd offer to provide you with a bibliography on CRT David, but I can't see you bothering to read about it in any great depth. Perhaps you are correct not to do so, after all the time I spent reading about and listening to so-called "conservative thinkers" for good old Charles, my opinion was simply dismissed with "meh" – but I like to think I would be a little more charitable about yours.Guerilla Surgeonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03427876447124021423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-88807140398615359082022-03-24T12:24:44.123+13:002022-03-24T12:24:44.123+13:00"Harvard scholars Steven Levitsky and Daniel ..."Harvard scholars Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt argued in their book How Democracies Die that there has never been an example in history of a successful multiracial democracy where the once-majority group has become a minority."<br /><br />And yet – democracy has died in Russia where if anything ethnic Russians are more of a majority now than they have been in the past.<br />Democracy has died pretty much in Hungary, where ethnic Hungarians are still in the majority.<br />Democracy has died pretty much in India, where Hindus are still very much a large majority.<br />Democracy is in the process of dying in the USA, where white people are still a majority, and are still in charge of the government.<br /><br />Might be helpful if you given us an example of a multiracial democracy where the once majority group has become a minority. Preferably one where democracy has died.<br />They also say this:<br /><br />In their view, any solutions to democratic decline in the U.S. “will not work if the Republican Party remains reactionary.” This is because, as Ziblatt put it, “democracy requires that politicians lose graciously.” As long as Republicans are driven by “the fear of losing,” they may compromise democratic systems to win.<br /><br />We already have at least one prominent nutty right-winger saying that there is something illegitimate about Arderne's election. So American opinions seem to be catching. I'll be watching your comments with interest if this thing catches on. :)Guerilla Surgeonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03427876447124021423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-73770012578281589222022-03-24T09:38:13.150+13:002022-03-24T09:38:13.150+13:00One other thing GS: I have written about the teach...One other thing GS: I have written about the teaching divisive doctrines in schools as you will be aware - CRT and it's manifestation in our twisted history lessons for example. I applaud the parents for taking a stand on this and the OTT obsession with homosexuality and transgenderism which reeks of promotion rather than information.David Georgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04883628159193125307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-86009807709558520782022-03-24T09:14:08.940+13:002022-03-24T09:14:08.940+13:00GS: "Why don't you write about ......&quo...GS: "Why don't you write about ......"<br /><br />I don't pretend to know everything and won't write about things I've never heard of. Sorry.<br />BTW, where did the antisemitism thing come from, Kaufman is a Canadian of Jewish descent and highly respected academic. I linked to his essay because it was a worthwhile discussion about threats to the liberal order, and to democracy itself, in countries such as ours and relevant to Chris's essay. What happens in India or Israel not so much.David Georgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04883628159193125307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-85996969849674234752022-03-24T08:45:27.059+13:002022-03-24T08:45:27.059+13:00Another concept for the protection of democracy th...Another concept for the protection of democracy that we should consider:<br /><br />"To prevent legislation being pushed through without a mandate, New Zealand needs a 90-day ‘People’s Veto’ – similar to the democratic protection enjoyed in a majority of US States. A ‘People’s Veto’ would enable the public to challenge new laws through a binding referendum process – as long as sufficient support for a veto petition is collected within 90 days of the law being passed."<br /><br />https://www.nzcpr.com/labour-is-the-crisis/David Georgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04883628159193125307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-75703292885194731272022-03-24T08:28:04.139+13:002022-03-24T08:28:04.139+13:00Guerilla Surgeon
Harvard scholars Steven Levitsky ...Guerilla Surgeon<br />Harvard scholars Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt argued in their book <i>How Democracies Die</i> that there has never been an example in history of a successful multiracial democracy where the once-majority group has become a minority. <br />https://youtu.be/Ckdzejrc0z8John Hurleynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-82721347972140718292022-03-24T08:22:25.691+13:002022-03-24T08:22:25.691+13:00that sound was the ringing of a bell outside the p...that sound was the ringing of a bell outside the prime minister's office indicating that the house was ready to put an issue to vote.<br /><br /> Mr Fraser responded with the alertness of a fireman answering an alarm. We left the parliament house at one in the morning and the government was still at work symbolically perhaps in view of the fact that all New Zealand seemed to be gainfully employed. The week we were there official figures showed that out of a population of a million six hundred thousand only 138 people were without jobs. Minister of Internal Affairs Perry explained to me (almost apologetically) that some of the 138 were in regions remote from employment opportunities and others were physically handicapped. <br /><br />He told me a lot more things I never knew about his country that all cabinet ministers for example are elected by the people not appointed politically and then though I was about to leave the country he handed me a government book entitled Introduction to New Zealand. Its Forward seemed to me to sum up the character of the Dominion.<br /><br /> New Zealand is a democracy, it said, with all the question marks of democracy. It is independent, it has party conflicts, it assails itself, it admires itself. It tries to learn through experience; it is the usual bundle of contradictions that make up a democratic society. It has a certain unity.<br /><br />We don't want to seem conceited but we don't want to be too absurdly humble either. We think our country is beautiful and interesting.<br /><br />Well I thought so too and I thought moreover, that the experiment of this beautiful and interesting little democracy is one which the world might well watch and study. For New Zealand is boldly attempting to reconcile the best features of private enterprise and socialism and to eliminate the worst of each.<br /><br />From the standpoint of a traveler looking for signs of harmony between these two great poles of world economy, this was a country important out of all proportion to its size.<br /><br />I had not seen many places where people were free, busy, healthy, unworried and at one with their minorities. I had not seen many places where children were strong, well fed, well clothed, well housed, well educated, and happy. And in the laughter of the school voice of Rongotai, in the exuberant good spirits of young New Zealand there seemed to be a sound of hope and a promise for the inheritors of tomorrow.<br />https://youtu.be/gNi7tI1OOTk<br /><br />then we have political entrepreneurs who gain income and status as miners of grievance. The MSM became <i>The People</i>. Traditionalists were branded <i>white supremacists</i> and hounded from public life.John Hurleynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-68965502621864460622022-03-24T06:53:07.962+13:002022-03-24T06:53:07.962+13:00Funny David, how you post stuff about the alleged ...Funny David, how you post stuff about the alleged threat to free speech from – I see it's now cultural socialism instead of cultural Marxism, still anti-Semitic though is it? – while ignoring the actual boots on the ground of right-wing threats to free speech over much of Eastern Europe and in the USA.<br />Why don't you write about the laws that forbid the teaching of "divisive" concepts in conservative states in the US? Why don't you write about the efforts to remove books about sex and sexuality from school libraries?<br />Are you okay with this? "In October 2017, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal was convicted of producing “terrorist propaganda” in Turkey and sentenced to more than two years in prison."One of your right-wing buddies did that. Why don't you talk about restrictions on the press in Hungary or Serbia where press ownership is concentrated in the hands of right-wing friends of the government? Or attempts to bribe the press by Netanyahu in Israel? Or the fining of newspapers for writing about protests in Poland? Or the right wing thugs that assault reporters in India? <br />So tell me again how the left is the danger to free speech.<br />It's not "cultural Marxism" we have to worry about I'm afraid so much as "cultural fascism" if I could coin a phrase. You people aren't interested in freedom of speech for everyone, just freedom of speech for your own. Maybe if you removed the beam from your eye, I might take you more seriously.Guerilla Surgeonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03427876447124021423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-52164585011730574582022-03-23T13:34:32.408+13:002022-03-23T13:34:32.408+13:00"It is notable that Ellmers makes no claim th..."It is notable that Ellmers makes no claim that the 2020 election was 'stolen' – he doesn’t allege manipulation, voter fraud, or conspiracy, and in fact explicitly acknowledges that more people voted for Biden than for Trump. He does not peddle conspiracy theories. Yet Ellmers maintains that the outcome of the 2020 election is illegitimate and must not be accepted."<br /><br />"Ellmers is outraged precisely because he accepts the fact that a majority voted for Biden, that 'authentic Americans' have become the minority in a country which they are supposedly entitled to dominate. Here we have a striking glimpse of the depth of despair underlying the pervasive siege mentality on the right. What’s scandalous about the 2020 election, in this interpretation, is not that it was “stolen”, but that “un-American” forces straightforwardly won."<br /><br />https://www.alternet.org/2022/03/far-right-biden-presidency/<br /><br /><br />A somewhat disturbing analysis of what some on the the extreme right think about the American election result. I'm beginning to pick up echoes of that here, particularly from that idiotic mob that was in Parliament grounds.Guerilla Surgeonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03427876447124021423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-24956794534672331842022-03-23T08:22:43.043+13:002022-03-23T08:22:43.043+13:00There's a great culture war going on, a war th...There's a great culture war going on, a war the forces of liberalism and democracy are loosing. It's clear which side the present government are on as they sacrifice long held principles to the delusions of prescriptive equality. We've seen democratic rights extinguished and moves against free speech; Alexis de Tocqueville's prescient warning is being played out here and now:<br /><br />"I think that democratic communities have a natural taste for freedom: left to themselves, they will seek it, cherish it, and view any privation of it with regret. But for equality, their passion is ardent, insatiable, incessant, invincible: they call for equality in freedom; and if they cannot obtain that, they still call for equality in slavery. They will endure poverty, servitude, barbarism – but they will not endure aristocracy."<br /><br />Eric Kaufman in a recent essay, A Generational Threat To Free Expression:<br />"The clash between socialist and liberal economics defined the late twentieth century, and this century brings a cultural version of that struggle. Today’s culture wars pit advocates of equal outcomes and special protection for identity groups against defenders of due process, equal treatment, scientific reason, and free speech. Our political map is taking shape around this new divide between what I will call cultural socialism and cultural liberalism.<br /><br />Cultural socialism, which values equal results and harm prevention for identity groups over individual rights, has inspired race-based pedagogies and harsh punishments for controversial speech. Rooted in the idea that historically marginalized groups are sacred, this view is no passing fad. Letters, associations, universities, and media defending free speech notwithstanding, the young adherents of cultural socialism are steadily overturning the liberal ethos of the adult world."<br />https://www.city-journal.org/cancel-culture-generational-divide<br /><br />We don't know the consequences of the end of democratic liberalism for sure but "poverty, servitude, barbarism" certainly don't sound so good with a long and bitter journey back to where we are now. David Georgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04883628159193125307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-40593772088916127172022-03-22T22:03:53.355+13:002022-03-22T22:03:53.355+13:00Some bugger can go off and try to overthrow democr...Some bugger can go off and try to overthrow democracy, but I don't think we will accept it. The strength of our history. More likely, some bugger can go off and restore democracy. We've seen Jacinda go off, and why not our natural Left side?<br /><br />The problem is the endless Machiavellism of the Left over these 40 years. Understandable but ... not helpful now. Another Kirk would do it.sumsuchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03133092096534660472noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-55233026126611153372022-03-22T21:45:05.367+13:002022-03-22T21:45:05.367+13:00I think this cynicism about democracy is quite awf...I think this cynicism about democracy is quite awful. The basic value of democracy is that it provides a peaceful way of removing our rulers and substituting others. It also means that our rulers have to pay attention to keeping as many people as possible happy with what they are doing.John Lauriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04461496681867519040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-76882669643137202642022-03-22T21:44:29.729+13:002022-03-22T21:44:29.729+13:00Democracy without demo-cracy can't last.
Now,...Democracy without demo-cracy can't last.<br /><br />Now, my specialty, America -- which seems to come to NZ in some way always. The failure of their 'Left' is ... they need the speech marks. In the last 5 years they've spent all their missiles on attacking the endlessly attackable Trump. Rather than restoring 'by the people for the people.' They are a thin white line so. Why are the Trumpists the closest America has come to the people having a say in the last 40 years?sumsuchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03133092096534660472noreply@blogger.com