This is why calling any adversary a second Hitler is America's favorite game. America has destroyed more freedom by protecting it. I have never understood the humanitarianism of Truman's dropping the secong atomic bomb. The first was argued as saving American lives, the second was for emphasis? The problem is not that America is not perfect, no government is, but that it feels so self righteously superior about being perfect despite its obvious flaws. Henry C.K. Liu Wojtek Sokolowski wrote: > At 10:54 AM 6/2/99 -0400, Charles Brown wrote, inter alia: > >The main point again is your "Big man" theory of history approach. Social > classes, not big , important individuals, were the proximate and physical > causes of the enormous social dislocation, including premature deaths in > the Soviet Union and China. > > Charles, I think that it is a good point that needs further emphasis. I > would go as far as to reject the "menatlist" view of politics althogether > in favor of an "interacationist" one. A mentalist position, of which the > rat-choice model is a special case, claims that people act out their > mental-psychological states, largely irrespective of the situation. That > is, politics is reduced largely to selecting people with good values and > moral character to offices, and filtering out people who are by nature > corrupt. In that line of thought, the Soviet system failed because it > allowed a man with "bad character" (judging by his deeds) to the highest > office. > > The "intearctionist" view, by contrast, holds that it matters little what > your mental-psychological processes, or values and character, are - for the > political (and organizational) behavior is determined largely by the > dynamics of the situation. That is, if that dynamics is cut-throat > competition for power, throats will be cut no matter what individuals may > think. That is, someone who ultimately objects to throat cutting may stay > away from politicvs altogether or have his own throat cut by someone else - > but the only difference that personal character and values make is the > names of people whose throats are cut and who do the cutting. > > As you corretly pointed out, the post-revolutionary Russia experiences > brutal class and power struggle. Stalin did not introduce it by his > volition - he was shrewd enough to stay afloat in it. If he did not, he > would probably ended up a victim of someone elses' purges. > > The same applies to politics elsewhere. People prefer personal politics, > e.g. blaming Clinton's character, instead of looking into dynamics of the > political system. Such a mentalist point of view is counterproductive - it > tends to blamce individuals instead of seeking systemic changes. > > wojtek
