[lit-ideas] Re: On the prospect of World Peace
- From: "Lawrence Helm" <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 5 Sep 2006 08:10:26 -0700
Cough, couch, cough, "a beginning?" What are you talking about? Of course
there has been a beginning, a process, war after war among competing
systems, varieties of systems until in 1990 there remained only two
competing major systems; then in 1991 there was only one, Liberal Democracy.
It isn't a matter of taking it seriously, that is a simple fact. You can't
dispute it.
You mentioned China, but China following the lead of Hong Kong is
instituting many of the elements of Liberal Democracy. Can they retain some
control over the government and still reap the benefits of a free economy?
They are trying. They have had to give up one of the basic elements of a
Communist system, i.e., a state-run economy; so they don't meet the criteria
of Communism any longer. Few consider China the threat they were during the
Cold War.
I don't understand what you are saying about Brazil. They are a developing
liberal democracy. Remember, Liberal Democracies don't war with Liberal
Democracies.
As to Germany, Democracy was forced upon them after WWI and they resented
it. Even so, it might have caught on had it not been for the depression.
Germany didn't feel they had lost WWI and they didn't' appreciate a
government imposed upon them. They wanted a great leader to save their
country from the people who "betrayed it." They had major unresolved issues
after WWI that took WWII to resolve. Germany never met the criteria of a
liberal democracy until after WWII. No one thinks that they did, by the
way. There is no one saying that Weimer Germany means there was one
exception to the dictum that Liberal Democracies don't war with Liberal
Democracies. [I suppose I shouldn't be quite so absolute. There seem to be
people who will say the most absurd and impossible things; so there may be
people saying this as well.]
In the "Last Man" portion of The End of History and the Last Man, Fukuyama
does consider the possibility that there may in the future "End of History"
period arise an individual so charismatic and so imbued with unrelenting
thymos that he will, merely to avoid the boredom of Nietzsche's "Last Man,"
engage in some unique action that will start history all over again, but
Fukuyama seems not to have continued to pursue that possibility after
finishing his book.
Lawrence
_____
From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Andy Amago
Sent: Tuesday, September 05, 2006 7:39 AM
To: lit-ideas
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: On the prospect of World Peace
I guess if there's an end of history there has to be a beginning. History
is only in the last 15 some years. That explains a lot of things but it
also begs the question of how anyone can take this stuff seriously.
Of course there are challengers. What about China with it's evolving
Confucian Capitalistic Communism? They're predicted to be the superpower by
the year 2030. What about Brazil, even though Brazil's liberal democracy is
second or third after Iraq for hell on earth (my ranking on my personal Hell
on Earth Scale). China is evolving. We don't know how China is going to
shake out. Also, I have personally lived through so many predictions that
never panned out that predicting the end of history through an ascendency of
liberal democracy is down there with leisure suits and hot pants, a
political fashion, meaningless.
Also, Hitler arose out of the Weimar Republic, a democracy. He rose through
the system. There was no coup. He was elected and the country then went
fascist. I also said with the exception of Japan, WWII was fought in and
among liberal democracies. Germany's being a liberal democracy didn't stop
it from becoming fascist.
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