“America can do some stupid things sometimes, but we would never elect a Stalin, a Pol Pot, or a Kim Jong-Il”
Odd here you are implicitly arguing against Monarchy, by saying Hitler is the worst thing that can happen (you really should think about that for a second or two more). But at least we won’t get a Stalin, Pol Pot or Kin Jong-Il! Oh wait those aren’t monarchs. Can you say with a straight face that Louis XVI or Nicholas II where anywhere near as bad as those?
Oh and speaking of how democracy never picks leaders terrible for the majority… have you heard of a man named Robert Mughabe? I vaguely recall he won fair and square at least a few elections. A few other African and Latin Americanp states where the majority quite firmly picked one of the most terribel peopel available jump to mind too. But I guess those where no true democracy. And black people don’t seem to really count anyway amirite.
As a side note I hope no reader will with a self-satisfied proclaim North Korea a Monarchy, formal rules of succession where the son’s grip is automatically legitimate aren’t implemented and indeed it has to pretend the chosen son of the previous ruler doesn’t have a power base just because his dad was ruler but because he is this talented and awesome genious of socialism. Needless to say both of these dynamics fuck things up. I will admit a tradition might be forming now that two sucesfull transitions hvae occured. Should the Kim dynasty continuea and Juche evolve a bit more, I’m really not that sure North Korea will be a worse place to live in 2070 than South Korea. Hmmm … maybe someone should convince Moldbug and Lee Kuan Yew to write a series of letters explaining to young Un explaining how he can become even richer and completely secure on his throne by reorganizing the country. Maybe he can set up a few prediction markets too.
“It never has to worry about being forced to accept the last leader’s feeble-minded son as the successor.”
A simple solution is for the royal family to pick queens on eugenic grounds and save the sperm of princes when they are young. Perhaps even a touch of genetic engineering. Even something as simple as the Roman Emperors did where the ruler adopts the man he sees as most fit for the job. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerva%E2%80%93Antonine_dynasty
“Yes, reactionaries, I totally just went there. I just said democracy was better than the Mandate of Heaven, because it promotes stability.”
This isn’t the head spinning argument you may assume it is. If you check out my LessWrong account you will see that I made the same argument in favour of democracy several months ago. I’m well aware of it and have updated, I still don’t see Democracy as obviously better than Monarchy.
Imperial China has behind it millenia of relative stability and civilization punctuated by periods of fragmentation. The US has what, 200 years of stability punctuated by a civil war as bloody as any dynastic struggle. I expect that before the 21st century is over another civil war or at least a break up is likely.
You make a good theoretical case. But looking at this empirically I don’t see a clear trend especially considering confounding factors. Consider Democracies besides Britain. Like say 1930s Spain. 20th century Haiti.
Tmp
“America can do some stupid things sometimes, but we would never elect a Stalin, a Pol Pot, or a Kim Jong-Il”
Odd here you are implicitly arguing against Monarchy, by saying Hitler is the worst thing that can happen (you really should think about that for a second or two more). But at least we won’t get a Stalin, Pol Pot or Kin Jong-Il! Oh wait those aren’t monarchs. Can you say with a straight face that Louis XVI or Nicholas II where anywhere near as bad as those?
Oh and speaking of how democracy never picks leaders terrible for the majority… have you heard of a man named Robert Mughabe? I vaguely recall he won fair and square at least a few elections. A few other African and Latin Americanp states where the majority quite firmly picked one of the most terribel peopel available jump to mind too. But I guess those where no true democracy. And black people don’t seem to really count anyway amirite.
As a side note I hope no reader will with a self-satisfied proclaim North Korea a Monarchy, formal rules of succession where the son’s grip is automatically legitimate aren’t implemented and indeed it has to pretend the chosen son of the previous ruler doesn’t have a power base just because his dad was ruler but because he is this talented and awesome genious of socialism. Needless to say both of these dynamics fuck things up. I will admit a tradition might be forming now that two sucesfull transitions hvae occured. Should the Kim dynasty continuea and Juche evolve a bit more, I’m really not that sure North Korea will be a worse place to live in 2070 than South Korea. Hmmm … maybe someone should convince Moldbug and Lee Kuan Yew to write a series of letters explaining to young Un explaining how he can become even richer and completely secure on his throne by reorganizing the country. Maybe he can set up a few prediction markets too.
“It never has to worry about being forced to accept the last leader’s feeble-minded son as the successor.”
A simple solution is for the royal family to pick queens on eugenic grounds and save the sperm of princes when they are young. Perhaps even a touch of genetic engineering. Even something as simple as the Roman Emperors did where the ruler adopts the man he sees as most fit for the job. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerva%E2%80%93Antonine_dynasty
“Yes, reactionaries, I totally just went there. I just said democracy was better than the Mandate of Heaven, because it promotes stability.”
This isn’t the head spinning argument you may assume it is. If you check out my LessWrong account you will see that I made the same argument in favour of democracy several months ago. I’m well aware of it and have updated, I still don’t see Democracy as obviously better than Monarchy.
Imperial China has behind it millenia of relative stability and civilization punctuated by periods of fragmentation. The US has what, 200 years of stability punctuated by a civil war as bloody as any dynastic struggle. I expect that before the 21st century is over another civil war or at least a break up is likely.
You make a good theoretical case. But looking at this empirically I don’t see a clear trend especially considering confounding factors. Consider Democracies besides Britain. Like say 1930s Spain. 20th century Haiti.