The problem comes when the benevolent dictator dies peacefully in their sleep.
The problems arise well before that. There’s no such thing as a benevolent dictator because it’s an oxymoron. Anyone who would seek to control everyone is not benevolent. And even if we agreed that unilaterally controlling everyone could still be benevolent, there is no means to gaining such control that is not inherently not benevolent short of nearly every one of your constituents collectively appointing you to that position.
Yeah. George Washington is one of the only men in history who had a chance to be a benevolent dictator. And what did he do? He said “No, we’re doing democracy now.” And if he hadn’t, he wouldn’t have been benevolent.
Yes, that is why I continued to give examples of when it would go south.
This is absolutely a pie-in-the-sky fantasy. Benevolent dictatorships work as well as state-run communism does - which is to say, in theory they’re great, but they show cracks nearly the instant they’re actually enacted.
work as well as state-run communism does - which is to say, in theory they’re great
State-run communism is also an oxymoron. The total state control of production is meant to be an intermediary step in the transition from capitalism. First the state seizes materials, machinery, money, etc away from the capitalists and corporations, redistributes the seized wealth according to need, and then it relinquishes control of production to the workers and of the governance to community structures and dissolves itself. That last step has never happened at a national scale in human history. State-run communism is not communism, by definition. It’s just capitalism where the state leadership are the only capitalists.
The problems arise well before that. There’s no such thing as a benevolent dictator because it’s an oxymoron. Anyone who would seek to control everyone is not benevolent. And even if we agreed that unilaterally controlling everyone could still be benevolent, there is no means to gaining such control that is not inherently not benevolent short of nearly every one of your constituents collectively appointing you to that position.
Yeah. George Washington is one of the only men in history who had a chance to be a benevolent dictator. And what did he do? He said “No, we’re doing democracy now.” And if he hadn’t, he wouldn’t have been benevolent.
He understood normal human kindness.
Yes, that is why I continued to give examples of when it would go south.
This is absolutely a pie-in-the-sky fantasy. Benevolent dictatorships work as well as state-run communism does - which is to say, in theory they’re great, but they show cracks nearly the instant they’re actually enacted.
State-run communism is also an oxymoron. The total state control of production is meant to be an intermediary step in the transition from capitalism. First the state seizes materials, machinery, money, etc away from the capitalists and corporations, redistributes the seized wealth according to need, and then it relinquishes control of production to the workers and of the governance to community structures and dissolves itself. That last step has never happened at a national scale in human history. State-run communism is not communism, by definition. It’s just capitalism where the state leadership are the only capitalists.
Amen
I have not ever heard such a bang on take vs communism on the internet before. Upvotes for you.