View RSS Feed

Memories of the 28th Century

Miscellaneous thoughts about miscellaneous matters

  1. Democracy and weapons

    by , 12-10-2022 at 05:14 PM (Memories of the 28th Century)
    Apparently, many people do not understand what democracy is, and many of them mistakenly think that the U.S.A. is a democracy. Democracy means that the people rule, from the Greek demos kratos. In a democracy, the people in assembly vote on the laws and how the state will be governed; how much will be paid to whom for doing whatever. That erroneous thinking results in republic and democracy being conflated. A republic is a form of government in which the people choose representatives who determine ...
  2. About Democracy

    by , 01-21-2021 at 06:15 PM (Memories of the 28th Century)
    Recently, more people have been talking about democracy, but I have gotten the impression that they don't know what democracy is. The word democracy is of Ancient Greek origin, demos cratos, meaning rule by the people. There are several related words of the same origin, including oligarchy, rule by few, aristocracy, rule by the best, monarchy, rule by one. Then there is republican government, in which the voting citizens select people to represent them or their interests in restricted meetings. ...
  3. Monarchy

    by , 10-07-2018 at 04:04 PM (Memories of the 28th Century)
    I Have lived my life so far in a federal republic, and I have seen how poorly that works. Republics try to give a voice to everyone that can be involved. Democracy is even worse, because everyone has a voice and a vote, even the insane, drunk, or mentally defective, and results often show the influence of such people. Aristocracy all too often deteriorates into plutocracy or oligarchy. If we are talking about governing a major country, then we are more interested in results than in process. ...
  4. The Ideal of Government

    by , 08-11-2018 at 02:52 PM (Memories of the 28th Century)
    Thomas Hobbes was right. On a fundamental level government is an agreement among the governed to cede some of their personal rights and autonomy in exchange for government providing a framework within which the people governed can more readily and safely carry of heir lives than they could without government. The government provides rules and basic services, such as roads and such, and the people governed pay for the services with a small and equitable service fee called taxes.

    In ...
  5. Democracy, Is It Dead?

    by , 11-17-2017 at 04:00 PM (Memories of the 28th Century)
    This is a letter that I sent to one of the local papers. I wonder if they will print it. The issue is whether the town charter will be amended to eliminate the town meeting and replace it with a thirteen member council. The vote won't come until Spring, so I am saving some of the best for later.


    When the zeitgeist changes, everything can be different. I was hoping that the election of Trump was an isolated event, but in the Town of Amherst, Massachusetts a Charter Commission ...

    Updated 11-17-2017 at 05:26 PM by PeterL

    Categories
    Uncategorized
Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast