Woodrow Wilson won election on a fluke (he had no mandate) but once in office he introduced radical change. He started off our policy of world policing, laid the bedrock for the United Nations, premiered the money printing (Federal Reserve) and revived racism as a political force. A horrible, horrible administration - easily the worst in US history and most of our problems can be traced back to his work.
The French Revolution was essentially the world's first try at communism. A lot of the chaos that has occurred overseas started there.
The Reformation opened the doors to the way of thinking that led to the French Revolution.
It might make more sense to start at the beginning. Essentially what happened is this - prior to the 1500s, the primary model was monarchies. Monarchies had their issues but their power was limited. A king is essentially one guy who has to balance the needs of the nobles and the people, or else be overthrown. Kings could not print money, they could not take income tax, they could not conscript soldiers. The bureaucratic footprint was also small. Congress requires hundreds of reps, each with many staff members, whereas a king just needs a security detail.
After the Reformation the model drifted towards socialism. First step was republics. With a republic, suddenly the state has "the consent of the governed" so they were able to commit much larger abuses. For example, the first military conscription in Europe was during The French Revolution. Prior to that, soldiers needed to volunteer and be paid a salary. And again, that money wasn't printed.
It is an uncomfortable truth about history that monarchies are much more peaceful, and much less tyrannical. I'm not sure how the USA is going to square that circle in the future but time and again history has shown that republics are prone to Civil War, imperialism, and unbelievable overreaches. Monarchy is essentially a boogeyman that has never accomplished these sorts of abuses.
You know how we often make fun of communism? With phrases like "it just hasn't been tried yet." Well that's basically how I see republics at this point. When I was younger I believed they could work, but the USA is following the path of Rome to a T. The civil wars, the imperialism, and only ten generations or so before collapse.
Low information voters is why democracies don't work.
The average IQ is 100.
Every time you expand the voter pool, that's one step closer to the average voter having an IQ of 100.
Can you expand in 3 through 5?
Too much to go over here, so I'll be brief.
Woodrow Wilson won election on a fluke (he had no mandate) but once in office he introduced radical change. He started off our policy of world policing, laid the bedrock for the United Nations, premiered the money printing (Federal Reserve) and revived racism as a political force. A horrible, horrible administration - easily the worst in US history and most of our problems can be traced back to his work.
The French Revolution was essentially the world's first try at communism. A lot of the chaos that has occurred overseas started there.
The Reformation opened the doors to the way of thinking that led to the French Revolution.
It might make more sense to start at the beginning. Essentially what happened is this - prior to the 1500s, the primary model was monarchies. Monarchies had their issues but their power was limited. A king is essentially one guy who has to balance the needs of the nobles and the people, or else be overthrown. Kings could not print money, they could not take income tax, they could not conscript soldiers. The bureaucratic footprint was also small. Congress requires hundreds of reps, each with many staff members, whereas a king just needs a security detail.
After the Reformation the model drifted towards socialism. First step was republics. With a republic, suddenly the state has "the consent of the governed" so they were able to commit much larger abuses. For example, the first military conscription in Europe was during The French Revolution. Prior to that, soldiers needed to volunteer and be paid a salary. And again, that money wasn't printed.
It is an uncomfortable truth about history that monarchies are much more peaceful, and much less tyrannical. I'm not sure how the USA is going to square that circle in the future but time and again history has shown that republics are prone to Civil War, imperialism, and unbelievable overreaches. Monarchy is essentially a boogeyman that has never accomplished these sorts of abuses.
You know how we often make fun of communism? With phrases like "it just hasn't been tried yet." Well that's basically how I see republics at this point. When I was younger I believed they could work, but the USA is following the path of Rome to a T. The civil wars, the imperialism, and only ten generations or so before collapse.