Subnostr

I love this assessment of Miguel Anxo Bastos:

Miguel Anxo Bastos argues that from the point of view of Liberty and tax collection, monarchies were better than democracies, since in monarchies the citizens perceived their election as illegitimate and the monarchy tried not to interfere too much in the affairs of the citizens and tried not to abuse the collection of taxes, in ancient monarchies never exceeded 10%.

The current democracies are perceived from the citizen's point of view as legitimate since the same citizen participates in his election, and due to this mental process the citizen tolerates tax rates of more than 50%.

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Discussion

Exodia38 1y ago

They are both political methods and politics tends to be a recipe for failure because, most of the time, you have to convince human beings. The only thing that makes these ventures possible is the unholy power of inflation backed by absolute violence, but it's also great to reduce friction through propaganda and briberies

https://youtu.be/rStL7niR7gs

ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ ᴏꜰ ᴍʟᴇᴋᴜ 1y ago

it's the same thing, but more honest

for the same reasons very often it's better in more "corrupt" countries than in less, because the people around you are oblivious and even will ostracise you for pointing this out... in former soviet/socialist countries and even just southern europe (which is fascist on the west and communist on the east) in general also quite corrupt and also people less trusting of authority

Laeserin 1y ago

Yes, people with crappy governments don't suffer from cognitive dissonance.

Marakesh 𓅦 1y ago

In the Bible, the prophet Samuel tells the ancient Israelites who had been living in a state of anarchy but wanted a king now like the other nations that with a king they would be his slaves and have given him 10% of their income.

TEN PERCENT!? THE HORROR!

Marakesh 𓅦 1y ago

It seems to me that democracy also obscures accountability and responsibility. You can't just behead the king to fix your problems.

Some American colonists (Patrick Henry, I think?) also wondered whether it was better to have one ruler over 3,000 miles way, or 3,000 rulers only miles away?