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by abeppu 1402 days ago
> This is the sort of crisis that brings down nations.

What does "bring down nations" mean though? Replacing a government? Violent overthrow and then writing an actual constitution? Because a bunch of the challenges being faced would still be issues under any regime right? A different government isn't going to magically get more potatoes this year, or significantly more energy from strained European countries this winter.
2 comments
javajosh 1402 days ago
A nation is, technically speaking, it's rulers and the rules they impose (on others and themselves). So bringing down a nation would imply a sea-change in rulers & rules. Considering that authoritarianism is humanities Default form of Government, it stands to reason that "bringing down" a democracy means reverting to that default. This will happen with the alternative is worse. (The situation in Somalia is arguably worse than authoritarianism, for example). Authoritarianism might also serve, at least in theory, as a kind of "boot loader" for something better - although the transition always seems to require a great deal of blood.
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8note 1401 days ago
I'd consider the nation to be the people with a common cultural background.

The state is the rulers and rules?

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javajosh 1401 days ago
Do you not differentiate between the people and the state?
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swader999 1402 days ago
Create a crisis, provide a solution. Install bought/captured politicians, perhaps a dash of tyranny, CBDC and social credit for all. Total surveillance and enslavement. It doesn't require violence, people will demand these 'solutions' when they are stressed enough.

Every tyrannical regime in the past had a constitution. Rendered mute by a uni-party system, captured media and judiciary. Now you can add big tech collusion to the fray.

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dane-pgp 1402 days ago
> Create a crisis, provide a solution.

The problem with that simplistic analysis is that it relies on the unspoken assumption that if it weren't for those sneaky, all-powerful, conniving [members of whichever out-group is being blamed] then the whole world would be peaceful and prosperous and free.

Having said that, I absolutely agree with the rest of your comment about what's ahead of us.

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swader999 1401 days ago
Of course it doesn't guarantee we'd be prosperous and free but it does allow a hundred more rolls of the dice that a way might emerge.
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