Posted on 09/14/2004 9:47:41 AM PDT by Luis Gonzalez
What in blazes is going on here? APole has one take, CWOJackson has another.
Yeah, BUT---
What about the theory that 'the lowest possible unit of governance should resolve problems,' which would seem to imply a localized control system is ideal?
Are you saying that Russia (old Soviet Union) is incapable of operating under that theory?
Lincoln certainly didn't bother too much with Constitutional restrictions in prosecuting the Civil War--and in illegally jailing certain critics of same.
Wilson ignored the hoi polloi when he marched the doughboys off to the European slaughterhouse in WWI.
And FDR didn't mind a few large lies which were helpful in bringing the USA into WWII. Although they didn't work, it is STILL speculated that the Pearl Harbor thing was 'benignly neglected' by FDR's White House while it was still preventable.
The law applies perfectly - most of functions can be done best locally, some at higher level and some in the center. In case of Russia some powers were too local and Putin is moving them to the optimum level.
What is "the lowest possible unit of governance" depends on circumstances, national culture and nature of problems. Putin initiative to arm local people for self-defense (not much mentioned in Western media) is moving some functions of government down to the governed. Teachers and parents carying concealed weapons will be much harder to victimize.
But is Vladimir Putin a Fidel Castro or is he an Augusto Pinochet?
From what I can see, things are pointing more to the latter than they are to the former - reference his economic moves (flat tax among them). Yeltsin did some good things, but he also had some serious problems, and I think his drinking DID interfere with his ability to govern - his only saving grace being he was better than the Communists on the one hand and folks like Zhirinovsky on the other.
Putin's not an ideal option, and things bear watching, but I do not think the Soviet Union is making a comeback. I think the comparisons to Pinochet are more accurate and will proceed on that assumption.
I think that Putin is much closer to De Gaulle than Pinochet.
De Gaulle's far more socialist than Putin. I don't recall de Gaulle passing a flat tax or anything of that nature.
The Russian version of the "Patriot" act is a tad more "in your face" than the American version. They lack that finesse that the pols in this country have.
A "tad" more?
This is to the Patriot Act what cannibalism is to sushi.
I said a "tad" tongue in cheek. The Patroit act is just one more step in a long journey toward tyranny.
Jefferson foretold it. Nothing historically catastrophic has happened.
Some places it happens slowly, (here) some places it happens quickly, Russia. In Germany and Japan in the 20s and 30s it went the whole distance in one generation.
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