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Re: Banks Reopen Global Casino
I'm not saying this will work. But it's the only thing I could come up with.
Step #1: Achieve financial security, absent a regular income, so that you have the time to devote to politics.
Step #2: Wait for the country to exhaust its ability to support the standard of living of the lower 90% through expansion of public and private credit. When we are no longer able to borrow a reasonable level of material comfort for the great majority of the population, and the contrast with the upper 10% (or whatever) becomes too great, the present ruling class will be discredited, and there will finally be room for political change.
Step #3: Do rhetorical battle with the extremist demogogues who also emerge, and win. Feed the populist anger some red meat to compete with the other demogogues, but avoid a violent expression of that anger, avoid public disorder, and avoid assaults on core institutions. (Think "ask not what your country can do for you..." rather than Mein Kampf.) If you aren't extreme enough, you'll be out-shouted by some other rabble-rowser; if you are too extreme, you'll alienate and frighten too many people. You need to give expression to the people's anger and validate their frustration without creating a conflagration that threatens the social order. Most importantly, you need to articulate a narrative for how things came to this, and what has to change to return them to "the way they should be."
Step #4: When you (or, generally, your party) achieves political power through demagoguery, don't be a douche. You will have achieved power through manipulation of widespread public anger, and once in power, you will need to wield that power to reform dysfunctional institutions. The hardest part is that the necessary reforms are those which weaken the ability of the incumbent to cling to power. Therefore, you have to be careful about selection of your party leaders. There really are many millions of patriots who would put their country before their personal ambitition... or at least those whose ambition it is to be thought well of through service to their country. Still, it is hard to find motivated and capable leaders who aren't also narcissistic, so it's unrealistic to try to recruit a party of saints. Instead, you need the type of narcissist who wants a very specific type of acclaim -- that which attends benevolence. You want to build your party from people whose greatest desire is to be thought well of for their service to their fellows, and who seek a place in history through participation in a great event rather than merely the length of their tenure and the routine exercise of political power.
Step #5: When reform has been accomplished, you need to manage the transition from being a demagogue to being the new political elite. You need to put the genie of public anger back in its bottle, and you need to be disciplined about keeping it there. It's important that you make your reforms difficult to reverse, because you won't be in power for long if you're honest. The hardest part will be letting go of the reigns, but let go you must, because otherwise you turn into the corruption which you sought to displace. I actually believe there are people who would do this; we need to find them and elect them.
Originally posted by Jim Nickerson
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Step #1: Achieve financial security, absent a regular income, so that you have the time to devote to politics.
Step #2: Wait for the country to exhaust its ability to support the standard of living of the lower 90% through expansion of public and private credit. When we are no longer able to borrow a reasonable level of material comfort for the great majority of the population, and the contrast with the upper 10% (or whatever) becomes too great, the present ruling class will be discredited, and there will finally be room for political change.
Step #3: Do rhetorical battle with the extremist demogogues who also emerge, and win. Feed the populist anger some red meat to compete with the other demogogues, but avoid a violent expression of that anger, avoid public disorder, and avoid assaults on core institutions. (Think "ask not what your country can do for you..." rather than Mein Kampf.) If you aren't extreme enough, you'll be out-shouted by some other rabble-rowser; if you are too extreme, you'll alienate and frighten too many people. You need to give expression to the people's anger and validate their frustration without creating a conflagration that threatens the social order. Most importantly, you need to articulate a narrative for how things came to this, and what has to change to return them to "the way they should be."
Step #4: When you (or, generally, your party) achieves political power through demagoguery, don't be a douche. You will have achieved power through manipulation of widespread public anger, and once in power, you will need to wield that power to reform dysfunctional institutions. The hardest part is that the necessary reforms are those which weaken the ability of the incumbent to cling to power. Therefore, you have to be careful about selection of your party leaders. There really are many millions of patriots who would put their country before their personal ambitition... or at least those whose ambition it is to be thought well of through service to their country. Still, it is hard to find motivated and capable leaders who aren't also narcissistic, so it's unrealistic to try to recruit a party of saints. Instead, you need the type of narcissist who wants a very specific type of acclaim -- that which attends benevolence. You want to build your party from people whose greatest desire is to be thought well of for their service to their fellows, and who seek a place in history through participation in a great event rather than merely the length of their tenure and the routine exercise of political power.
Step #5: When reform has been accomplished, you need to manage the transition from being a demagogue to being the new political elite. You need to put the genie of public anger back in its bottle, and you need to be disciplined about keeping it there. It's important that you make your reforms difficult to reverse, because you won't be in power for long if you're honest. The hardest part will be letting go of the reigns, but let go you must, because otherwise you turn into the corruption which you sought to displace. I actually believe there are people who would do this; we need to find them and elect them.
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