Well Balkanization is one solution....but I'm not sure we're going to enjoy it.
We see the beginnings of this in many parts of the world....American states rights, Canadian western alienation........but what it is fueling is not representative democracy........or better decisions.
At least in the two countries I've mentioned, it is leading…
Well Balkanization is one solution....but I'm not sure we're going to enjoy it.
We see the beginnings of this in many parts of the world....American states rights, Canadian western alienation........but what it is fueling is not representative democracy........or better decisions.
At least in the two countries I've mentioned, it is leading the charge to a more divided, fascistic kind of 'ya can't make me!" rebellion, led by the traditional suspects...white men willing to use violence to get their way.
So yes: the unwillingness to engage, the passivity of the general population, and the fact that in capitalist empires the most venal men rise to the top.........and engage in government for their own purposes.......makes governance hard.
Still: Whitewashing a president.......claiming he was helpless in front of his advisors.....is a cop out. And its a cop out for the simple reason that as long as some powerful people get excused the crimes they allowed under their watch....The System Survives, the Lies continue to work, and a Culpable People can continue to celebrate their pseudo leaders and wash their hands of the crimes committed in their name.
Rationalizations aren't Rational. Excuses don't bring back the Dead. And the Blame Game continues. Americans bash the people fleeing the lands past American regimes decimated........for the false Gods of Corporate Power....
And the Beat Goes On. We won't stop it as long as we continue to Excuse it.
I am a realist. I prefer Balkanization because as a fellow Canadian it is a very real possibility that I wake up one morning with Abrams Tanks in the streets of my city, because some President did not like something. Alternately, that we have a color revolution of our very own. It has not happened until now, because we have always gone along with Washington.
Where there is great power, there is abuse. Capitalism or no capitalism it is unrestrained power that corrupts, and those who are weaker will be abused by those with more power. There is no such thing as benevolent power, only power that is constrained by other powers that limit what it can get away with. For me, the solution is to limit power, hence Balkanization.
My problem with what you say is that I don't see our Governments having absolute power......if anything, the current Liberal government has promised much progress, and made small progress following through with those promises.
We need stronger Canadians policies regarding climate change and transitioning off fossil fuels. From where I sit, it looks like the Conservatives want to do what Trump is proposing, double down on 'drill baby drill'......and take the planet past irreversible tipping points.
Balkanization will speed that process, not turn it around.
My experience is that Bureaucracies make bad decisions. They are easily captured by Interests such as Corporations, or Ideologies.
Climate Change is great example. We are being sold solutions that do not work. Even worse, the solutions being promoted make things worse not better. For instance, a field of solar panels kills the soil under the solar panels. The off gassing of CO2 from the soil exceeds the life time CO2 saved. Even worse, solar panels don't work in January which is our peak load for electricity (My solar arrays today were at 9.6V) which means that we are using Natural Gas or Coal instead.
Going back to Jimmy Carter, one man surrounded by a bunch of people telling them that a particular thing needs to be done, will accept what they are being told, unless they have personal experience that tells them that what they are being told is wrong. This is why concentrating power in anyone's hands is dangerous because it is very easy to manipulate that person. A president surrounded by 1000's of people all of who are seeking to manipulate them to a particular outcome will do a lot of bad things simply because they are human and not able to understand the implications of what is being presented to them.
Perhaps, if all the 1000 people surrounding him are bad people. But that assumes a degree of corruption and graft that is rather extreme....and I assume that back in Jimmy Carter's day there were also ethical public servants who could have provided different interpretations.
I'm just a bit amazed by how easily we can craft explanations to let people in positions of power and responsibility off the hook.
Nor am I convinced that your example of solutions that don't work is a good one. Our solar panels work fine...but we do need to figure out a fix for snow on the roof. Apparantly, newer panels have little heaters included that can melt that snow...........
But we all should understand by now that the worship of Mammon creates bad situations.............where American political leaders can end up saying on national television that the starvation of half a million children was 'worth it"........whatever Worth means, in a situation like that.
I think we need to face the sad fact that the American Empire is itself the Evil Empire in many cases. That doesn't let American politicians, including the 'commander in chief' off the ethical hook.
Well Balkanization is one solution....but I'm not sure we're going to enjoy it.
We see the beginnings of this in many parts of the world....American states rights, Canadian western alienation........but what it is fueling is not representative democracy........or better decisions.
At least in the two countries I've mentioned, it is leading the charge to a more divided, fascistic kind of 'ya can't make me!" rebellion, led by the traditional suspects...white men willing to use violence to get their way.
So yes: the unwillingness to engage, the passivity of the general population, and the fact that in capitalist empires the most venal men rise to the top.........and engage in government for their own purposes.......makes governance hard.
Still: Whitewashing a president.......claiming he was helpless in front of his advisors.....is a cop out. And its a cop out for the simple reason that as long as some powerful people get excused the crimes they allowed under their watch....The System Survives, the Lies continue to work, and a Culpable People can continue to celebrate their pseudo leaders and wash their hands of the crimes committed in their name.
Rationalizations aren't Rational. Excuses don't bring back the Dead. And the Blame Game continues. Americans bash the people fleeing the lands past American regimes decimated........for the false Gods of Corporate Power....
And the Beat Goes On. We won't stop it as long as we continue to Excuse it.
I am a realist. I prefer Balkanization because as a fellow Canadian it is a very real possibility that I wake up one morning with Abrams Tanks in the streets of my city, because some President did not like something. Alternately, that we have a color revolution of our very own. It has not happened until now, because we have always gone along with Washington.
Where there is great power, there is abuse. Capitalism or no capitalism it is unrestrained power that corrupts, and those who are weaker will be abused by those with more power. There is no such thing as benevolent power, only power that is constrained by other powers that limit what it can get away with. For me, the solution is to limit power, hence Balkanization.
My problem with what you say is that I don't see our Governments having absolute power......if anything, the current Liberal government has promised much progress, and made small progress following through with those promises.
We need stronger Canadians policies regarding climate change and transitioning off fossil fuels. From where I sit, it looks like the Conservatives want to do what Trump is proposing, double down on 'drill baby drill'......and take the planet past irreversible tipping points.
Balkanization will speed that process, not turn it around.
My experience is that Bureaucracies make bad decisions. They are easily captured by Interests such as Corporations, or Ideologies.
Climate Change is great example. We are being sold solutions that do not work. Even worse, the solutions being promoted make things worse not better. For instance, a field of solar panels kills the soil under the solar panels. The off gassing of CO2 from the soil exceeds the life time CO2 saved. Even worse, solar panels don't work in January which is our peak load for electricity (My solar arrays today were at 9.6V) which means that we are using Natural Gas or Coal instead.
Going back to Jimmy Carter, one man surrounded by a bunch of people telling them that a particular thing needs to be done, will accept what they are being told, unless they have personal experience that tells them that what they are being told is wrong. This is why concentrating power in anyone's hands is dangerous because it is very easy to manipulate that person. A president surrounded by 1000's of people all of who are seeking to manipulate them to a particular outcome will do a lot of bad things simply because they are human and not able to understand the implications of what is being presented to them.
Perhaps, if all the 1000 people surrounding him are bad people. But that assumes a degree of corruption and graft that is rather extreme....and I assume that back in Jimmy Carter's day there were also ethical public servants who could have provided different interpretations.
I'm just a bit amazed by how easily we can craft explanations to let people in positions of power and responsibility off the hook.
Nor am I convinced that your example of solutions that don't work is a good one. Our solar panels work fine...but we do need to figure out a fix for snow on the roof. Apparantly, newer panels have little heaters included that can melt that snow...........
But we all should understand by now that the worship of Mammon creates bad situations.............where American political leaders can end up saying on national television that the starvation of half a million children was 'worth it"........whatever Worth means, in a situation like that.
I think we need to face the sad fact that the American Empire is itself the Evil Empire in many cases. That doesn't let American politicians, including the 'commander in chief' off the ethical hook.