What do you think are the major pros/cons of each current generation?

[David Horn]

(05-15-2022, 11:26 PM)JasonBlack Wrote: David Horn

Quote:Let's be more precise: it never works out.  The less power government exercises, the more that's exercised by the private sector, and it isn't exercised for the benefit of anyone but the owner class.  If there has ever been a better example than the case today, I can't think of one.  Gilded Age 1.0 was close.

Checks and balances are an intended result of policy, not a specific strategy or system to attain said results. As such, this criticism is misplaced (it would be like me saying that fighting racism "never works out" just because affirmative action hasn't gotten good results). 

If what you mean is "the kind of rampant individualism and anarcho capitalism you long for never works out", I'm inclined to agree. I have become more collectivistic for pragmatic reasons as a result. However, this does not mean that "wanting to create better checks and balances never works out". There are countries with varying degrees of checks and balances . Obviously, none of them are perfect, but the ones that have more tend to do a lot better economically and socially than the ones who have less. What I'm saying here is that, more broadly, checks and balances are an area I tend to focus on, because I think they are the most crucial way to protect freedom.

There is one huge difference between race or any other culture related issue and the power of the massively rich.  The second group has it within its power, jointly or often individually, to force favorable change if countervailing power is inadequate.  I've had this argument over and over again with libertarians.  The power of wealth is not like any other political marker.  It empowers itself and has the ability to sustain itself without regard to anyone or anything else.  Look at the Kochs, the Mercers or Peter Thiel on the right and the great bugaboo George Soros on the left.  They ask no permission; seek no adherents.  They just act.