Curt Doolittle

Category: Politics, Power, and Governance

  • Nuclear Weapons Are a Bit Like Monuments.

    They are terribly expensive, but produce extraordinary returns. Now, think about this for a second. Russia invested overly in military and in particular nuclear weapons. Of all the investments in sovereignty Russia made, the only durable one has been those nuclear weapons. Any polity with a few nuclear weapons and an armed populace, with stores of RPG’s, Man portable Missile Launchers, and enough artillery to protect lines of invasion, is relatively safe from conquest. So a relatively small number of professional warriors, a sufficiently trained militia, and the cost of military can be below the 3-4% Switzerland, which arguably benefits from the ‘mountainous terrain discount’, only spends 0.8% per year. The additional benefit of being a small nuclear state operating on international markets is that it is very hard for you to create sufficiently international dependencies that you need war to protect them.

  • Nuclear Weapons Are a Bit Like Monuments.

    They are terribly expensive, but produce extraordinary returns. Now, think about this for a second. Russia invested overly in military and in particular nuclear weapons. Of all the investments in sovereignty Russia made, the only durable one has been those nuclear weapons. Any polity with a few nuclear weapons and an armed populace, with stores of RPG’s, Man portable Missile Launchers, and enough artillery to protect lines of invasion, is relatively safe from conquest. So a relatively small number of professional warriors, a sufficiently trained militia, and the cost of military can be below the 3-4% Switzerland, which arguably benefits from the ‘mountainous terrain discount’, only spends 0.8% per year. The additional benefit of being a small nuclear state operating on international markets is that it is very hard for you to create sufficiently international dependencies that you need war to protect them.

  • “Having Nuclear Weapons in a polity is like having guns in the household. If you

    —“Having Nuclear Weapons in a polity is like having guns in the household. If you don’t have one, your sovereignty depends on those who do.”—Steve Pender

    Source date (UTC): 2018-06-08 16:20:20 UTC

    Original post: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1005122365859221504

  • National socialism for example, is actually and “Authoritarian, Nationalist, Aut

    National socialism for example, is actually and “Authoritarian, Nationalist, Autarkic, Commons-biased, Mixed economy”

    Classical liberalism for example is actually a “Rule of Law, Nationalist, Private Property-biased, Free Trade, Mixed Economy, with houses for the classes to negotiate commons.”

    (repost)

    Source date (UTC): 2018-06-08 12:30:00 UTC

  • “Having Nuclear Weapons in a polity is like having guns in the household. If you

    —“Having Nuclear Weapons in a polity is like having guns in the household. If you don’t have one, your sovereignty depends on those who do.”—Steve Pender

    Source date (UTC): 2018-06-08 12:20:00 UTC

  • NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARE A BIT LIKE MONUMENTS. They are terribly expensive, but produ

    NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARE A BIT LIKE MONUMENTS.

    They are terribly expensive, but produce extraordinary returns.

    Now, think about this for a second. Russia invested overly in military and in particular nuclear weapons. Of all the investments in sovereignty Russia made, the only durable one has been those nuclear weapons.

    Any polity with a few nuclear weapons and an armed populace, with stores of RPG’s, Man portable Missile Launchers, and enough artillery to protect lines of invasion, is relatively safe from conquest. So a relatively small number of professional warriors, a sufficiently trained militia, and the cost of military can be below the 3-4% Switzerland, which arguably benefits from the ‘mountainous terrain discount’, only spends 0.8% per year. The additional benefit of being a small nuclear state operating on international markets is that it is very hard for you to create sufficiently international dependencies that you need war to protect them.

    Source date (UTC): 2018-06-08 08:49:00 UTC

  • “What I always tell people who cite more “educational achievement” among liberal

    —“What I always tell people who cite more “educational achievement” among liberals, besides what this article said about how universities are really indoctrination centers, is that there is a repolarization at the top that mirrors the 50/50 split amongst the general population.

    Intelligence is a predictor of leftist leanings until you hit the the top one or two percent. “They don’t know what they don’t know” is basically another way of saying “A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing.”

    They get to the point of questioning preconceived notions, realizing they’re not wholly rational, but not even scratching the surface of why we developed those instincts to begin with.”– Brian McQuiston

    “…Not questioning why we developed those instincts to begin with…” or why a central tenet of western and eastern civilization is the warning by Icarus against hubris. Why? It counters (a) that idealism and reason can somehow compete with a market for demonstrated results, and (b) that we are unequal in every possible way and that markets are the only means of calculating coincidences of wants and needs, and (c) that because of “b”, many people are dead weight or deleterious to the group as a whole.

    Source date (UTC): 2018-06-08 07:48:00 UTC

  • Two Meanings of Absolutism: One Good, One Bad.

    1) The form of government must be flexible enough to account for ordinary times ( rule of law, judicial monarchy, and markets), endure warfare (fascism), and distribute windfalls ( participatory commons selection ) – although the latter is always questionably necessary unless sufficient to shift classes. 2) When one says “Absolutism” in government, one can refer to total discretion in the administration of state and production of commons but remaining under rule of law. Otherwise it just means ‘dictatorship’. 3) When one says “absolutism” in rule of law, and therefore morality and ethics, this is my position on the natural law of reciprocity. In that it is an exceptionless rule. And therefore a case of “Absolutism”. In other words “Natural Law of Reciprocity = White Sharia = Absolutism”. For reasons that are strange if you think about it, westerners have no concept of absolutism because in the west, truth is always beyond our grasp and markets are our means of decision making between sovereigns. (Assuming you’re from the martial/craftsman/property owner rather than priestly or peasant classes).

  • Two Meanings of Absolutism: One Good, One Bad.

    1) The form of government must be flexible enough to account for ordinary times ( rule of law, judicial monarchy, and markets), endure warfare (fascism), and distribute windfalls ( participatory commons selection ) – although the latter is always questionably necessary unless sufficient to shift classes. 2) When one says “Absolutism” in government, one can refer to total discretion in the administration of state and production of commons but remaining under rule of law. Otherwise it just means ‘dictatorship’. 3) When one says “absolutism” in rule of law, and therefore morality and ethics, this is my position on the natural law of reciprocity. In that it is an exceptionless rule. And therefore a case of “Absolutism”. In other words “Natural Law of Reciprocity = White Sharia = Absolutism”. For reasons that are strange if you think about it, westerners have no concept of absolutism because in the west, truth is always beyond our grasp and markets are our means of decision making between sovereigns. (Assuming you’re from the martial/craftsman/property owner rather than priestly or peasant classes).

  • Sovereignty vs Liberty vs Freedom

    Sovereignty in fact – because a group has enough capacity for violence to produce sovereignty over the will or ability of any and all competitors. Liberty by request – because a group does not have enough capacity for violence to produce sovereignty, but can purchase liberty with fees (taxes). Freedom by permission – because an individual has too little violence to produce sovereignty, and too little violence to request liberty, but can purchase freedom through non-interference and payment of fees (taxes). Sovereignty is produced as a commons(Polity/Executive). Liberty is produced as a commons(Business/Managerial). Freedom is given to produce commons (Trades/Labor). Serfdom is imposed to produce commons at cost(Labor). Slavery is imposed to produce commons at high cost(labor). Whether one demonstrates a condition of Sovereignty(Aristocracy: Polity/Territory), Liberty(Citizen : capital), or freedom (Freeman: body), the production of such must be constructed top down: from commons to degree of property ownership (responsibility) since while it is most productive to have the greatest distribution of property, it is also most productive to limit the distribution of property to those who produce commons. Since productivity determines the ability for a polity to compete for sovereignty and territory the distribution of property therefore productivity and responsibility is determined by competitive necessity versus the abilities of the population. Hence the need for growth to defeat the red queen of technology and productivity, against men, and to defeat the red queen of evolution (or devolution, or extinction).