tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post2600093340846417406..comments2023-09-25T04:26:51.568-06:00Comments on The Barefoot Bum: Obama and tortureLarry Hamelinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08788697573946266404noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-89518950279567881422009-01-26T07:07:00.000-07:002009-01-26T07:07:00.000-07:00The Founders were in the middle of the bourgeois r...The Founders were in the middle of the bourgeois revolution; in their time executive power was a tool of the feudal aristocracy. Now that the bourgeois revolution is complete, it's much preferable to control the executive behind the scenes, rather than expose it to mob rule... er... democratic processes.<BR/><BR/><I>There are factions of the bourgeoisie who, probably rightfully, believe that they can best maintain their position in society by ensuring that executive power is not absolute...</I><BR/><BR/>Such people are in a tiny minority. It's simply not credible to believe that the mainstream Democratic party operatives pay anything more than lip service to formal democratic controls on the executive.<BR/><BR/>Obama's schtick is not to reduce executive power, but to exercise the vast executive power he's received "responsibly". He's promised <I>not</I> to punish the Bush administration for its excesses; he's promised only not to <I>personally</I> repeat them.<BR/><BR/>I think too you're confusing the bourgeoisie (capitalist class) with the <I>modern</I> middle classes. The modern professional-managerial middle class <I>thinks</I> they're running everything, but only because their ideology is subtly and covertly dominated by the capitalist class. Both the professional-managerial and laboring middle classes are shrinking quickly and the Democratic party is not doing anything substantive to reverse this trend, at best they are only fractionally slowing it.Larry Hamelinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08788697573946266404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-21543707619233343992009-01-25T15:24:00.000-07:002009-01-25T15:24:00.000-07:00It's important to understand that all factions of ...<I>It's important to understand that all factions of the bourgeoisie want absolute executive power</I><BR/><BR/>Well, there are those who consider themselves part of the bourgoisie who have stated that they are not in favor of absolute executive power. This includes huge swaths of the Founding generation and has continued over time. There are factions of the bourgeoisie who, probably rightfully, believe that they can best maintain their position in society by ensuring that executive power is not absolute and that there is a decent "middle class" life possible for a substantial majority of Americans, both of which lessen the social, political, and economic pressure for revolution.<BR/><BR/>You are portraying a cartoonish version of the bourgeoisie, who are not that stupid. Many of them are well aware of how to lessen the likelihood of revolution, having learned from history that unbridled executive power--i.e., fascism--destabilizes bourgeouis comfort.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-91939985145563017982009-01-24T09:42:00.000-07:002009-01-24T09:42:00.000-07:00Marxist-socialist, what I meant by my Machiavelli ...Marxist-socialist, what I meant by my Machiavelli post was not from the Prince, in which I agree with you about your assessment of him, but rather it was referring to his works in the Discourses, in which he is much more Republican and, though still somewhat of a sociopath, clearly champions the cause of the people more than any other political thinker I am aware of before him. The particular part of his thinking, though, that I was referring to was the statement that you cannot set up your government to run assuming a particular type of person running it (in this case, assuming the President is going to be a somewhat nice guy), but must set up your government so that it can function at least reasonably closely to the way one would want it to run regardless of who is actually in power.Mozglubovhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04803674886685831282noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-14854408460920971902009-01-23T20:45:00.000-07:002009-01-23T20:45:00.000-07:00Barefoot: That's it !! we need a socialist-revolut...Barefoot: That's it !! we need a socialist-revolution as soon as possible. I am tired of this damned capitalist neoliberal inflationary system of food rising every day. <BR/><BR/>The fucking items at Wal Mart are rising at a skyrocket speed. I swear, i lift weights and i depend on sports supplements and every week they have a different price (i swear)<BR/><BR/>I think USA is almost reaching a point of *super-inflation* (hyperinflation).<BR/><BR/>And i swear, every week or 2 Wal Mart and stores have to resort to change the sticker prices of most items. <BR/><BR/>I don't really understand how the hell can americans not riot on streets. I mean where do people in this fucking country get their money from? I mean do people smuggle with drugs or something? <BR/><BR/>Or could it be that most americans are too conformists, and conform to an under-consuming lifestyle.<BR/><BR/>Because to tell you the truth, consumerism, overconsuming is not evil perse like some greeners state. Under-consuming is the real problem of most americans, not overconsuming. People in this country are not overconsuming, but underconsuming.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-89991488765540245152009-01-23T20:16:00.000-07:002009-01-23T20:16:00.000-07:00Mozglubov said... hmmmm, well Machiavelli was smar...Mozglubov said... hmmmm, well Machiavelli was smart, however he was smart from the point of view of Kings and Oligarchic leaders. But Machiavelli was anti-human, anti-christian, anti-socialist, and too fascist. Remember that socialism and communism should be humanist, compassionate, christian, forgiving, instead of the fascist ideology of capitalism, feudalism and pass oligarchic systems.<BR/><BR/>.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-37117454856121303852009-01-23T09:54:00.000-07:002009-01-23T09:54:00.000-07:00Your fifth paragraph is highly reminiscent of Mach...Your fifth paragraph is highly reminiscent of Machiavelli. That in no way is a bad thing, as I think Machiavelli was highly cogent and clear, I just thought I would point that out.Mozglubovhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04803674886685831282noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-58675519366431953342009-01-23T09:15:00.000-07:002009-01-23T09:15:00.000-07:00I attempted to create a link here to wordpress but...I attempted to create a link here to wordpress but failed. Here it is...<BR/><BR/>http://themormonworker.wordpress.com/2009/01/23/zen-justice/<BR/><BR/>Great article.Grégoirehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13610633478542798268noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-37744852823616293042009-01-23T09:12:00.000-07:002009-01-23T09:12:00.000-07:00That's a great point, and one that is scarce in th...That's a great point, and one that is scarce in the <A HREF="http://fallofhate.blogspot.com/2009/01/cult-of-personality.html" REL="nofollow">atmosphere of hero-worship</A> that seems to have taken hold. <BR/><BR/>Of course, a more sinster interpretation of Obama's refusal to call torture "wrong" (or illegal) per se, is that he wants to maintain the flexibility to implement it in some way. This viewpoint is suggested by a story in <A HREF="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123267082704308361.html" REL="nofollow">today's Wall Street Journal. </A>BJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13482984199571511524noreply@blogger.com