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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   27147 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of November 20, 2023

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What do you wish Trump et al could accomplish between 2024 and 2028? Is it mainly restricting low-skill immigration?

What do you wish Trump et al could accomplish between 2024 and 2028? Is it mainly restricting low-skill immigration?

I'm a monarchist, awaiting an Augustus Caesar — while almost certain we'll never get one.

Why a (presumably hereditary) monarch versus a regular ole dictator?

The succession problem. I once recall someone pointing out that the broad strokes of Henry VII Tudor's life are a match for any number of Latin American dictators… and someone else pointed out the clear counterpoint of "except when it ended." Where most modern dictatorships fail is at the transition of power following the dictator's death, but when Henry VII died, then here comes Henry VIII.

As others have pointed out, not all monarchies are hereditary. I recall de Maistre, in his discussion of Aristotle's classification of systems of government, pointing out that both Roman monarchies — the pre-Republic Kingdom and the post-Republic Empire — were non-hereditary. He then went on to describe hereditary government as a later innovation, created to address the associated issues that Rome repeatedly encountered. Yes, succession crises do happen in hereditary monarchies (though a number of the historical factors are less likely to be relevant in the modern world), but not nearly anything as often as modern dictatorships collapse over transitions of power. And the primary example in the present day of one that hasn't, and has shown some of the most longevity, looks pretty hereditary in practice.

Hm, in that case aren’t stable democracies even better for avoiding civil wars over succession crises? What historical factors are less relevant now?

And are dictatorships worse in that regards? Of the ones that immediately come to mind — Stalin, Franco, Pinochet, Mao — their countries didn’t descend into civil war at the end of their reigns.

These two words represent the same thing, the “dictator” one just carries negative connotation.

Doesn't monarch imply blood-line succession?

No. A monarchy has a defined succession principle; not only have there been historical monarchies where that wasn’t blood, there are monarchies right now where is isn’t(Malaysia and the Vatican).

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