Highspeed rail is B$it

[loramin]

Originally Posted by Jibartik [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

All of that provides is consumerism that makes everyone nilhistic and depressed and angry and eventually it'll invent the AI that kills us all if the machines we built 200 years ago dont already.

I cant wait for all this satanist temptation to be gone and we can go back to living off of and enjoying being a part of the fat of the land.

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Roads, drinking water, and not getting invaded = "providing consumerism" and "making everyone nihilistic"?

[Jibartik]

Well it did didn't it?

edit:

not getting invaded

Im also curious if you're sponsoring the military industrial complex here...? [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Reiwa]

Originally Posted by loramin [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Roads, drinking water, and not getting invaded = "providing consumerism" and "making everyone nihilistic"?

To play for the devil, don't they only provide those things because they think it will get them more revenue from us? 🤪

[loramin]

Originally Posted by Jibartik [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Well it did didn't it?

edit:

Im also curious if you're sponsoring the military industrial complex here...? [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I'm in favor of a strong American military, but not the military-industrial complex. They're separate things.

One can have a military, have it be managed/regulated by a well-run government, and then have said military only purchase the things it needs, using a competitive bidding process.

Or ... you can have America [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] Here we don't regulate things, the corporations are really in charge, and they want to make money so ... you get the military-industrial complex (and trillions of dollars wasted on unnecessary purchases, that essentially amount to those corporations stealing from taxpayers).

[loramin]

Originally Posted by Reiwa [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

To play for the devil, don't they only provide those things because they think it will get them more revenue from us? ��

One could argue they provide those things to avoid a revolution (either a democratic one at the ballot box, or a more fiery one if the former isn't possible). In fact, one could argue that everything the government does, it does to stay in power ... and when you set your systems up properly, that's a good thing! They're motivated to provide and care for their citizens.

The problem is our systems, and their incentives, suck ... and as a result, so does our government.

[Jibartik]

One can have a military, have it be managed/regulated

Can they? Because they aren't in practice.

Again: all of what you spoke of has resulted in misery death and destruction.

Sorry to say this is true!

[loramin]

Originally Posted by Jibartik [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Yeah, they can, but guess what, we dont lol!

Again: all of what you spoke of has resulted in misery death and destruction.

Sorry to say this is true!

I think you're oversimplifying. Certainly, history has shown that having a military that's too strong tends to encourage whoever is in control of said military to use it: that's true.

And to some extent the military-industrial complex has existed since long before Eisenhower invoked the term. Back in the revolutionary war, I'm sure the English cannon manufacturers (or warship-makers or whoever) tried to curry favor with the king so that he would buy their cannons/boats/whatever.

But the degree of the problem has waxed and waned. We've had periods with more military graft vs. less, and periods of peace vs. periods of a Bush as president (with Iraq #2 being the strongest example of us getting into a war we had no reason to be in, so that a bunch of rich people could get richer).

You can't throw the baby out with the bathwater though: you can't say "well Bush got us into an unnecessary war, wasting hundreds of American lives and trillions of dollars of American taxpayer money ... therefore we shouldn't have a military or defend ourselves." The answer isn't to go from one extreme to another, it's to have a middle ground, propertly managed, well-run system of government.

[Reiwa]

Originally Posted by loramin [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

One could argue they provide those things to avoid a revolution (either a democratic one at the ballot box, or a more fiery one if the former isn't possible).

if democratic don't win election, is time for to revolt then?

[Kaveh]

Originally Posted by Reiwa [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

To play for the devil, don't they only provide those things because they think it will get them more revenue from us? ��

Or the government is made up of elected representatives and bureaucrats from the body politic who want to live in a decent society they share with those they represent

Sadly, corruption and incompetence get in the way of that. Malevolence though? Nah

[Reiwa]

Originally Posted by Kaveh [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Or the government is made up of elected representatives and bureaucrats from the body politic who want to live in a decent society they share with those they represent

Sadly, corruption and incompetence get in the way of that. Malevolence though? Nah

Oh, yes! Never ascribe to malice(etc)