Partisan divides over political values widen

[Speaker to Animals]

One thing I noticed studying history: all of these "collapses" worked out better for more people in the long run. The disentigration of centralized government seems to come as a welcome "collapse". Also, for most of western history, the form of government had little bearing on our cultural output. Mozart and Copernicus operated in a world of aristocracies. I would suggest the form of government does not really matter to most people as long as it is based on just rule of some kind rather than some autocracy.

Democracies tend to produce more pop culture whereas aristocracies produce more high culture. That's about it. Both categories of government are equally capable of producing misery and injustice, and they do just that towards the end of their lifespans.

[DBTrek]

Government type probably mattered to the 99.9% of illiterate peasants who dies from exposure, disease, starvation, and infection under medieval monarchies.
Not that they knew any better.
But we do.

[Martin Hash]

One guy is honest enough to admit he's a Monarchist. Others tacitly support him by turning a blind eye to the Nouveau Aristocracy. The Left responds with Communism. America was an aberration in the selfishness of men. I was glad to have experienced the magic when it was here, and am curious on which side will win. (The Left, there's more of them, and they've won everywhere else.)

[TheReal_ND]

Merchants have ALWAYS styled themselves as the next aristocrats.

:^)

[Speaker to Animals]

Government type probably mattered to the 99.9% of illiterate peasants who dies from exposure, disease, starvation, and infection under medieval monarchies.
Not that they knew any better.
But we do.

As opposed to what? Medieval peasants had more time to themselves than you do as a wage slave today.

Do you remember stories of people rising up because they were made serfs by the new aristocracy? I don't. I seem to recall reading about people happy to be protected from barbarians and provided with a means to subsist.

Was it a shit deal compared to now? Yep. But compared to the alternative? Nope. It was a hell of a better deal than being a Roman prole too. So that theory is crap.

[DBTrek]

I'm not seeing a mass exodus to the absolute monarchies or strict caste societies of the world today.
People seem to prefer systems where they have social mobility and some amount of influence over government decisions.

Edit: Eh, I stand corrected. Looks like Saudi Arabia is #4. Damn
http://www.worldatlas.com/articles/high ... world.html

[clubgop]

I'm not seeing a mass exodus to the absolute monarchies or strict caste societies of the world today.
People seem to prefer systems where they have social mobility and some amount of influence over government decisions.

Edit: Eh, I stand corrected. Looks like Saudi Arabia is #4. Damn
http://www.worldatlas.com/articles/high ... world.html

A lot of those are oil workers living in gated communities. Pork and Alcohol aren't crimes in those places.

[TheReal_ND]

I have family there. Saudi's can't be assed to figure out how to build refineries. They ship in Americans to supervise their construction and Filipinos to do most of the labor.

[Speaker to Animals]

I did not say it will happen right this instant. Wait for central authority to weaken and society to break down around the edges. Think more in terms of the first Mad Max film where you still have government, but it does fuck all for people outside specific zones of control.

If I have to guess, I'd guess it will begin sometime in the 2050s during the height of the demographic winter, when most of the population are totally foreign and trust is absent in what remains of the West. Even then, tjat is judt the beginning. It could take a few generations to get to whatever crisis produces the aristocracy.

[Fife]

As is the osprey to the fish.