-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- At 09:39 AM 8/29/97 -0700, Kent Crispin wrote:
I have known since I was a grasshopper that people trying to effect change have a vested interest in making current reality look bad. People entrenched in the power structure, on the other hand, have a vested interest in making current reality look good.
When change doesn't happen, or especially when it goes in a direction undesired by the revolutionaries, but liked by the citizens, the effort to make current reality look bad intensifies. When change irrevocably passes to an unwanted state, and the revolutionaries "lose", a residue of Bitter Old Revolutionary Extremists (BOREs) results. These toothless old tigers, clinging to their youthful dreams, rage at a reality that passed them by. Snarling and perpetually misunderstood, they wither and waste away, Cheshire cat evil grimace postcripts to history.
Course the analysis fails when faced with those who think things are good and getting better in revolutionary ways disliked by the "powers that be". None of us have had time to become Bitter Old Revolutionary Extremists yet. Tim and I am members of the same birth cohort. He tends towards depression and I tend towards optimism but both of us have seen quite a few changes over the years and neither of us are in the position of the American Marxists of the 1930s or 1960s New Left radicals who saw their dreams die. Market liberalism is ascendant. And it is still in its early period of ascendancy. The Economist observed earlier this year that "We are all liberals now". Pointing out that illiberal philosophies had shuffled off the world stage. Note that "socialism" started circa 1850, rose steadily until the middle of this century, and then crashed and burned. "Red Tony" in the UK is showing himself to be slightly to the right of John Boy Major as the students, aliens, and pro-inflationists of the UK have recently discovered. Market Earth continues to take names and kick ass worldwide. I felt much more depressed about the possibilities of a society built on voluntary interaction 30, 20, or 10 years ago than I do now. The fact is that change is continuing and accelerating because people have the means to change their own lives. Since "revolution" which originates from the independent and unled actions of millions of people cannot easily be suppressed, traditional political analysis fails. Conquering an "anarchy" is hard enough because of the lack of anyone to surrender. Conquering an "anarchy" that is springing up all around you at the "speed of business" or in "net time" is even harder. The only tactical option that would work for our rulers in the current political situation is to "nuke us back to the stone age" so that they could regain their traditional force ratios. If the people are not deprived of the wealth and physical powers that they now possess (at least in the OECD countries), they are no longer controlled in a real sense. Nominal controls exist but they are weak and ineffective. If you doubt this, ask any cop. DCF Needed: A lion untamer. The cage has been removed but the lion continues to pace back and forth over his old ground out of habit. We need a lion untamer who can convince the lion that he's no longer in a cage. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP for Personal Privacy 5.0 Charset: noconv iQCVAwUBNA7VwYVO4r4sgSPhAQFNTQP/e4ilGsrRYtLafQeF8IVj0Cuhi7MfuPhY 2bkmj7xJQ0/i8m4hJduXOdHGd0wrgvTqkvP7AwsBFAAaCae6kFxYqxo4N1WPBx08 lNKZWHoKARLKo0OfxlFmEnMdhY4H13AEW9DdtoZYXVu75HucJkjzln7bdBX3L2eQ QEzi4k044v0= =vsG9 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----