Isms

Democracy, Theocracy,  Monarchy, Empire, Communism, Capitalism, Socialism,even Anarchy, these are all just different formats for managing  civilization and the problem is that  all of them could  work, in theory.

But, as I have heard attributed  to Yogi Berra, although  I kind of doubt that ‘In theory is the same as in practice, in theory.  In  practice, it’s not.’

The problem is obvious.  What do all of these systems have in common?  People.  It’s always the damned people.  Anarchy would be beautiful, it is the most poetically beautiful of all of them, the beautiful belief that  people, left to their own devices, would do the right things.  99% of the time, that might be true, but that other one percent of the time you want the police or the fire department or the  ambulance to arrive on time.  It’s  like that stupid Adam Smith  metaphor about the invisible hand.  It’s invisible, people!  That had  could  just as easily whop you up the side of the head.

In an  unregulated, free-market capitalist system, an  ever tightening group of people at the type make more  and more money, and leave the  paupers in the dirt.

In communism, dissent and individuality are strongly discouraged.

In theocracies around the world, people are poor, and  oppressed, and ignorant.

Democracy may well  be the  fairest system so far devised by man, but it  is only as good as the Demos it represents.  And  quite honestly, I am not convinced that Gruber was wrong.