FM> > "If the average American were President, he would run the country like 
Idi
FM> > Amin." -- Timothy Leary
FM> PF> Surely this can not be true.
FM>   Unhappily, I am afraid that Keith is all too close to being on target.
FM>Read the postings of some of the racist nuts in these Fidonet echoes and 
then
FM>compare it to what you really here from everyday people who voice such
FM>sentiments ASSUMING that you agree with them.
Back when Iran had some hostage of ours, I talked to some perfectly
sane, reasonable people who felt that we should reply by dropping an
atom bomb on Iran.
I would like to imagine that if the average American actually got
his hands on the big machine, he would quickly grasp the incredible
difficulties and responsibilities, and would quickly get over ideas
like the above.  But we all seem to have certain values or programming
that are inaccesible to reason.  For example, evangelical fundamentalists
feel obliged to try to convert other people, and to remake the country
in their own ideology, for the simple reason that if they don't, they
are told that they aren't doing their duty to God, ergo they are
going to Hell, ergo they are fear-driven.
When I first saw that quote nearly 20 years ago, I was thoroughly
offended and thought Leary must have flipped his lid.  But he was
a world-class psychologist long before he was a high priest of
neurochemicals.  The boy warn't no dummy.
Jimmy Carter did an interesting thing back when he was Prez.
There was an SDS guy from the 60s who had long been telling
everybody what utopian solutions needed to be implemented, but
who was also level-headed and well-organized.  (Sorry, the
guy's name slips my mind.)  Carter gave him an important job
in his government, and essentially told him, okay, now that you
have a piece of the machine, you'll get to see how the machinery
really works.  IIRC, the guy very quickly became much more realistic,
setting out to do what would work instead of stuff that was radical
and utopian.  I remember thinking that, okay, it's good to think
about utopian ideas, but don't imagine that just because they
sound good, therefore they must be viable.
We can contrast this with someone like James Watt, who, as Reagan's
Secretary of the Interior, informed the world that there was no
point worrying about protecting the environment, because the Lord
was coming soon.
FM>   Actually, we're safer the more real POLITICIANS holding power positions 
if
FM>philosopher-kings is probably not a viable option.
At some level I prefer them to philospher-kings; after all, Plato's
_Republic_ is essentially a fascist system.  How romantic to get
your ego stroked _both_ ways:  because of your altruistic self-denial,
and by the testostrone rush of other people having to deal with you
instead of the other way round.  In that sense Plato's Republic is
no different from any oligopoly or dictatorship of the proletariat:
it cannot help but be corrupted by the pre-rational motivators of
the rulers, whatever they may be.  They would instantly form a
mammalian social in-group of the elite, and would preserve and
enlarge that in spite of anything else.  Worst of all, they could
justify it in moral terms, because of their personal sacrifices,
so they would be an especially virulent and self-righteous form
of it.
That's one reason parliamentary democracy has some advantages --
precisely because democracy is such a messy form of government.
When everyone has the right to speak up, you tend to get a
gawdawful mess, but you also make sure no one is left out.
The fatal attraction of dictatorships is that they are efficient.
At least the politicians
FM>learn the art of compromise and can make both the lovers and the haters of
FM>humanity think they are serving them.  "Politicans are the SECULAR saints 
who
FM>keep the REAL saints (grin) from killing each other!!" said T.V Smith 
any,
FM>many years ago.
Do you happen to have chapter and verse on this quote?
If you have to make a political deal to get what your interest
group wants, it may make you feel tainted, and it's messy, but
just keep in mind that the people you don't like had to give up
some of what they wanted to make a deal with you.  Yes, it's messy,
but it tends to include people instead of excluding them.
BTW Frank, since you're the historian here, mebbe you can clue me
on something.  Adam Smith is a sort of god these days, and I've
never read him in the original.  But I've heard that his 'invisible
hand' was, in his own mind, the sense of common decency that lives
in any community -- IOW certain things like usury or destruction of
common resources were simply unacceptable, and this kept greed
within bounds.  Zat true?
 * SLMR 2.1a *   AIBOHPHOBIA:  Fear of palindromes.
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