[OT] Why is Brazil like Bulgaria?

[Bob Sneidar]

That is as good a history of Brazil as I have ever heard. A couple points: I don't think people so much ascribe to political philosophies, as the look instead for the one that seems to give them the most, or take away the least from them. That is why nations with fairly good economical systems and politics can be overthrown. You simply convince the poor masses (every country has them) that they are poor, not because they have not tried to better themselves and their lives, but because "those rich guys over there" took all their money! 

Now the claim may or may not be true. Sometimes "those rich guys over there" really DID take all their money! But sometimes not. It really makes no difference, because the goal is to get a lot of people angry at the people who actually wield the power, so that you have a ready made army of sorts, at which the people who have the power will need to defend themselves or run. The resulting people who now have the power after the coup may not be (and probably will not be) better that the ones they replaced, especially seeing that they were willing to deceive the masses into doing what they wanted in the first place. Well it worked great once, why abandon a perfectly good method on moral grounds?? 

So the solution is not any particular political system, at least in my opinion. The solution has always been, and must always be, some kind of quantum leap in the moral fiber of the people in general. For America it was the fact that so very many displaced European Christians showed up in the same place at the same time and decided they wanted a better world for themselves and their children. How well things worked out in the end will be a subject of endless debate among the international community, so let me just concede that point up front. 

But there have been good and bad Republics. There have been good and bad Socialist States. There have even been good and bad Totalitarian States!! The moral fiber of the people, and subsequently their leaders, is the key, and not the politics. That is my point. 

Bob

ps. List-Gods please don't banish me from list-post heaven. It was an OT post!! And I didn't mention anything about cheese!


On Jan 5, 2011, at 5:07 AM, Andre Garzia wrote:

> So in summary:
> 
> Same guys in power: really big muddy place -> United Kingdom -> Empire ->
> Republic
> New guys in power, as bad as the previous ones: Last 8 years