jesus shit this thread became a mess. im not going to read it all because i'm not made out of spare time

[quote=@BrobyDDark]
Actually, it kind of [i]does.[/i] When you remove a figure head like that via revolution, to replace it with a new government, you are taking the previous society apart and rebuilding it with the recycled bricks. This has been going on for ages, and is the reason we DON'T have kings right now. But you're comparing kings and business owners in the wrong way. Some kings did just live a privileged life, letting the church or advisers rule their country while they relaxed. Other kings made laws, managed the economy, discussed military strategy during times of war, etc.
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And there were Kings who were actually quite good, and did a decent job, and society was better for them. And there are members of the capitalist elite that don't contribute anything but prior privilege. Remember that many people within the elite are not active managers, but simply investors, who's only contribution is that they have money to invest. I have a hard time swallowing the idea that privileged gambling is the ideal format for a civilization. 

[quote]Someone will always step up and take charge, because there's no way everyone can control the economy at once. Everyone needs a representative, who will look like the leader and, like it or not, that person will have more power over the economy at that point onward. That's how I view it, anyways.
[/quote]

When I say democratic, I don't mean that literally everything is voted on all the time. I mean that power within a civilization is invested in the people directly, even if that means they appoint managers. The system we have now invests the people in a parallel way, but holds them at arm's length. It is better that the strict nature of feudalism, but it still wastes human energy through the corruption and class-defensive nature of the rich.  

[quote]This is a gripe I have with talking about the current state of things, and talking about politics and the economy. A lot of people seem to think that the US is currently undergoing its demise- we're on our deathbed, even though we have been chugging along fine for years. Our death won't happen because of our current economic system, and it wouldn't happen if we were communist, or socialist, or lived in a dictatorship. Our death would happen when we tried to change all of that, because switching our economic ideology will make us very weak, as we're suddenly getting rid of people that make a lot of money they use to fund the government.[/quote]

We're not on our deathbed, but we are ticking off some uncomfortable boxes when it comes to the development of civilization. We've got stagnation in the working classes, a gap between rich and poor that is rising rapidly, political upheaval, and an upcoming automation revolution that will likely mirror the economic uncertainty of the industrial revolution. That's a lot of shit on our plate. Considering how many civilizations have stories of turmoil that start with "...and then the rich took all the wealth and the poor got mad", I am very concerned.

Now let me clear one thing up though - I don't think it's Fallout time. That's possible, since global turmoil can do that sort of thing, but I don't think it's automatically to be expected. An American Caesar is just as plausible though (That was my main concern with Trump, but he's turned out to be more of an America child king, so Trump is no longer on my danger radar tbh). What I'm saying is we are heading for a civilization defining moment, and that moment will most likely be a negative one. 

[quote]I think everything's going to be fine, for at least another 100 years.[/quote]

I really really hope so. Like, seriously, I'm not in this shit for Neetbux, I'm willing to put in my forty hours at the salt mines. But I want to know that the salt mines will be there all my life, and that my forty hours there will pay my way. And I just don't have faith in any of that. This is not an unusual feeling amongst people of my social class in my experience, regardless of age or political persuasion. It's that angst, I think, that got Trump elected. Also that angst that made Bernie popular. Extremism isn't rising in America because of the media, or something in the water. Extremism is on the rise because of this growing economic angst. And economic angst, historically speaking, is a major powder keg.