The Democracy of the founding fathers was Greek Democracy, predicated upon a slave society, and restricted to only the elite. This is the society we live in today, even with our reforms towards direct representation. The system is inherently biased towards the election of elites and against the representation of the masses. Hamilton called it “faction” when the working class got together and demanded better conditions, and mechanisms were built in (which still exist to this day) that serve to ensure the continued dominance of the elite over the masses. The suffering of the many is intentional. The opulence of the wealthy is also. This is the intended outcome.

  • BartsBigBugBag@lemmy.tfOP
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    1 year ago

    Yes, centralized planning is significantly more efficient both materially and in terms of labor. Thus why most modern mega corporations are run as planned economies within themselves. There’s entire books about it, if you care to read them. The first one I read on the subject is called “The Peoples Republic of Wal-Mart”.

    • galloog1@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Yes, take out the checks on power inherent within private corporatism and you get full on communism. It’s not better. Add in racism and you make genocide extremely efficient as the state controls all resources.

        • galloog1@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          It appears to me that Israel did not have full economic power over the Gaza strip like they would under a command economy and the elected government of Hamas used that to prepare to kill over a thousand civilians in Israel. To bad they weren’t authoritarian like you would prefer and they could fully stamp out the Arabs in the region. Funny how it goes both ways sometimes.

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              1 year ago

              This is a conversation on left economics. Gaza has literally nothing to do with it except as a case study in power. You brought it up. You are the one projecting. I’m bringing us back on topic.

        • Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          How is that relevant though? They’re acting in response to an atrocity committed by the government of Gaza, capitalism has nothing to do with it.

          And we both know that plenty of people starved under communism.

          • BartsBigBugBag@lemmy.tfOP
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            1 year ago

            That’s delusional. They’re furthering their settler colonialist system at the expense of a subjugated minority. They’ve admitted as much on National TV. Their intention is genocide. Definitively. The Palestinians have a international law stating that as occupied peoples, they have the right to resist their occupation, up to and including through violent means. What international law gives the Israelis a right to genocide them? The US and Israel are the only countries in the world in support of this genocide.

            People under communism starved through droughts, or poorly thought out Five year plans. People under capitalism are starved intentionally, whether by failure to provide resources to those unable to secure adequate work (over 25% of US children are food insecure, almost a million people are homeless), or through policies like the settler colonial policies of apartheid Israel or apartheid U.S.

            • galloog1@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Imagine if Israel completely controlled the means of production over Palestine as would be your preferred system. Would that make the genocide less effective? We wouldn’t even be talking about it in the current tense regardless of how taken you are by the Hamas claims since 2006.

              • BartsBigBugBag@lemmy.tfOP
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                1 year ago

                Wtf are you even talking about? They already control all means of production. They control all materials in and out of Gaza, including machines, building materials, food, water, and medicine. Gaza can’t build a hospital without getting it approved by Israel. They can’t build an apartment building without getting it approved by, you guessed it, Israel. The Palestinian people, as stated by the Secretary General of the UN, “have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation.”

                • galloog1@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  Sorry, I missed the part where they were planning production and redistributing the returns. I guess there’s still work to be done to complete control. I’m not sure why you think this would be better. Please address this point. You are bouncing around it. I don’t care about Israel in this discussion.

                  • BartsBigBugBag@lemmy.tfOP
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                    1 year ago

                    You’re a fucking idiot, and a fascist apologizer as well. Go to hell. I’m not going to interact with your bad faith arguments. You can argue into the abyss.