Yes, but the "waving guns around" mentality creates the impetus to make IEDs.
The Tipping Point
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Lexicus
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I mean, maybe to some trivial extent, but I don't think would be the main driver. The main driver would simply be the patent fact that peaceful political participation is pointless and some large-enough segment of the population feels as if it has nothing to lose.
The mindset of "intimidating others by means of guns" points to violence as a solution. An IED is just a less personal means of acting violently and one that carries less personal danger. Of course an IED may not carry the personal power of pulling a trigger and watching those around die in a bloody mess.
I think these tactics work particularly well when there is no proportional representation. Without that, there is no one who can really gain from actively opposing such political positions. In a two-party system, the opposition just has to be slightly less bad to retain the voters that oppose these positions, because where else are they going to go? If you have a multi-party system, following the extremists too much always has the danger of another party eating into your voter base.
In the hypothetical scenario where one party can redistrict at will, I don't think the optimum strategy would be to go all out with gerrymandering. The perfect strategy would be to gerrymander just enough too make a majority very likely. That way you don't loose as much legitimacy, but the result is mostly the same.
Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun
Patine
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Wasn't that a damned Robert Mugabe quote?
Timsup2nothin
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Chairman Mao
Mao, but in the end, it's true. The bedrock of most politics, is, ultimately, the control of hard power. Armed forces to delineate, protect, and expand what is yours. Police forces to cower the masses into following the laws set. It all boils down to someone willing to beat up and kill someone else for some form of profit down the road - profit promised only by the continued political and real control of some tangible thing or benefit under the control of the collective politicians.
Lexicus
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On the contrary, regimes based only on 'hard power' tend not to last very long. Legitimacy is moar better.
It's nice to move away from that kind of thinking.
Timsup2nothin
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Unless it is a fundamental truth, in which case it doesn't have to be embraced but it does have to be dealt with.
Broken_Erika
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But ultimately unrealistic to do so. All power and authority must, by it's very nature, come from and be backed up by the threat of violent reprisal for those who defy it. This is because no matter what, there will always be those who reject your authority and will refuse to be negotiated with. What do you do with those people? How do you stop them from becoming a significant disruption to society? So far the only solution has been for society to threaten those people into compliance with violent reprisal and it doesn't look like that is ever going to change. The only difference we really see between different governments and societies is just in how far they are willing to take those violent reprisals and how much they'll tolerate before resorting to violence to maintain order.
I don't know about mismanaging, but I doubt they are underfunding it. Saw a job posting here a few days ago that was looking for temporary census workers and the posting said they were offering $21/hour for full time work plus overtime. If they are willing to pay people that much, they must at least have some decent funding.
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Governance is an interesting mixture of force and not force. The average person is quite happy to live in a peaceful Society. There is no government violence against them, because they don't even imagine wanting to do the things that we use violence to prevent. For those people, government violence is only really appropriate against the 2% of people that are completely antisocial.
It isn't the law that causes them to be kind to their neighbor, it's just a function of living in a nice Society. And we are finding over and over how hard it is to migrate from a violet Society, even one where the government owns the Monopoly on violence , to a peaceful one.
It isn't the law that causes them to be kind to their neighbor, it's just a function of living in a nice Society. And we are finding over and over how hard it is to migrate from a violet Society, even one where the government owns the Monopoly on violence , to a peaceful one.
I often forget just exactly how underpaid American workers are compared to comparative societies. I used to earn more than that delivering pizza.
You even see this is reformed criminals. It is really, really hard to turn off the instincts that kept you alive in criminal days, even if they no longer make sense. Things like someone laughing at you is an invitation to stab them in prison, because they are showing disrespect. Can't do that on the outside.
Timsup2nothin
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You have this backwards. The thing that is hard to turn off is common courtesy, since prison is the only place I've ever seen where it is actually common...to the point of being almost universal.
You're not the only person who has been to prison, dude. I guess I should clarify that I mean mocking laughter, not friendly laughter.
You have this backwards. The thing that is hard to turn off is common courtesy, since prison is the only place I've ever seen where it is actually common...to the point of being almost universal.
They also have higher costs of living which cheapens the value of their higher wages. That hourly rate where I live would be enough for a family of four to live a nice middle class life on.
Remember: it's not how much you get paid that matters, it's how far that pay will go that matters. I mean, if I'm making $40,000 a year and you are making $80,000 a year, but we both can afford roughly the same standard of living because you live in an area with a higher cost of living, then can you really say you make more than me?
Timsup2nothin
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Yeah, the kind that doesn't happen in prison, out of common courtesy. Maybe that common courtesy is a product of the "behave or get killed" trope, but it is still the hardest thing to turn off. Go to the local mall and watch for recent parolees. You can't miss them. They're the ones saying "excuse me" in a steady stream as the oblivious crowd bumps into them despite their best efforts to dodge.
