Monday, October 20, 2014

Principles of democratic communism - Outline

This is essentially the outline of a constitution for a democratic communist "state" (in the Weberian sense). I'm not going to write the individual elements in legalese; I will leave that task (should it become necessary) to those with legal training and experience that exceed my paltry two semesters of undergraduate constitutional law. I will more-or-less assume existing the existing United States Supreme Court's interpretation of the present Constitution as a background for the interpretation of basic terms; please comment if you think existing SCOTUS interpretations might conflict with the fundamental principles of democratic communism.

  1. Preamble
  2. Individualism and collectivism
    1. Individual rights
    2. Collective rights
    3. Collective duties
  3. Political organization
    1. Fundamental Principles
      1. Democracy
        1. Residential and Industrial/Commercial
        2. Hierarchical
        3. At large
      2. Transparency
      3. Corruption
      4. Federalism
      5. Separation of powers
        1. Policy (democratic)
        2. Implementation (bureaucratic)
        3. Compliance (judicial)
  4. Economic organization
    1. Absentee ownership
      1. No private absentee ownership
      2. Complex ownership
    2. Taxation and fiscal policy
    3. Money, banking, insurance, and real estate
    4. Job guarantee and universal basic income
  5. Amendments

(This post will change without warning as I add to and refine the outline and link to specific chapters)

Corruption

6 Insane Details of Corrupt Politics That Movies Get Wrong (Original title (which I think is better): "6 Ways Government Corruption Is Way Weirder Than You Think")

    #6. Politics Turns Politicians Into Helpless Children
    #5. It's All About Fashion and Sucking Up
    #4. Legal Bribery Happens All the Time
    #3. Lobbyists Are Everywhere, Operating Without Rules
    #2. Even Nations Need Lobbyists
    #1. Lobbyists Can Destroy Politicians Who Oppose Them

Friday, October 03, 2014

The purpose of beauty

[P]art of the purpose of beauty is always to make both the poor and any revolution they attempt appear to be crude and in bad taste, to be a breach of manners. There is simply no way, when power has acquired the trappings of beauty, to avoid the spiritual wonder and humility such beauty provides. Any opposition somehow acquires a stridency, leaves itself open to charges that the world it seeks to destroy will always be more uplifting, more miraculous, than whatever replaces it, whatever you propose. The better choice, the wiser choice is to remain allied with the beauty, support what it upholds, since they cannot be separated.

— David Mura, Turning Japanese, p. 300