Quote of the day—Roberto Foa and Yascha Mounk

In the United States, among all age cohorts, the share of citizens who believe that it would be better to have a “strong leader” who does not have to “bother with parliament and elections” has also risen over time: In 1995, 24 percent of respondents held this view; by
2011, that figure had increased to 32 percent. Meanwhile, the proportion of citizens who approve of “having experts, not government, make decisions according to what they think is best for the country” has grown from 36 to 49 percent.

Roberto Foa and Yascha Mounk
July 2016
The Danger of Deconsolidation
The Democratic Disconnect

[This could be part of the explanation for our current candidates for U.S. President. Sometimes people get what they ask for.

Maybe I need a seaworthy boat instead of a farm in Idaho.—Joe]

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9 thoughts on “Quote of the day—Roberto Foa and Yascha Mounk

  1. I don’t think this is unique to our time. A large percentage of people wanted a monarchy after the American Revolution. In Biblical Old Testament times the people threw off kings, placing judges elected by themselves, only to become wicked and lazy and end up back under kings. There are LOTS more examples through history. Freedom is hard work and too many people will accept some form of slavery in order to avoid work!

  2. I’ll give you quotes from a book titled “Germany: Jekyll and Hyde”, by Sebastian Haffner. This was the pen name of Raimund Praetzel, a young lawyer who left Germany for England in 1938. His book was published in 1940 as a warning to Britain and the West.

    The first quote:

    “Everyone who is able and willing to seize power, to rule and to lead, will find in Germany an immense crowd to obey and follow him with joy and relief. That is something the Western countries do not understand, often do not believe, and if they believe, despise. They love freedom and self-determination above all things, and cannot visualize a mentality that sees in them a burden to be cast off with delight.”

    The second quote:

    “… Hitler’s power over the German people rests on quite other foundations than popularity. Hitler the person may be un-German and unpopular but not the institution of ‘Leader’ which he incarnates.”

    Sound familiar?

  3. The generation which fought off the Nazis and Jap imperialists gave birth to the generation that has been working to undermine liberty since the 1960s.

    To refer to them as the Greatest Generation then is a bit of a stretch. When the communist-inspired hippies were occupying university administration buildings and our national media were getting openly cozy with the Soviets, the GG had no answer, but a collective blank stare. They and their parents loved FDR, an enemy of the American Principles and of the constitution. What could they say or do when their kids took their disregard or outright hatred for the constitution, and love for collectivism and brought it up one notch?

    W.W. II was not a conflict of ideologies.

    If fighting for liberty, successfully, is the benchmark then, the Greatest Generation would be those few who were driven by love of liberty to free America from British rule. Best we look more closely at them, what inspired them, what drove them, what kept them going, and how they managed to prevail over the most power military in the world.

  4. A seaworthy boat is no help.

    My worst nightmare ever, just before my thesis defense in grad school, involved my forced infiltration and rescue of a prisoner from an island fortress dungeon, followed by escape under fire, fleeing into a stormy ocean at night towards freedom on the far shore.

    Just when I thought I could reach that far shore safely in the dream, the giant squid rose from the depths, wrapped me inescapably in several of its tentacles, and pulled me under. End of dream, wake in cold sweat.

    There is always, always, ALWAYS a giant squid ready to do that.

    Better to stand, and fight, and win, right the hell here.

  5. Translation: the younger generation are ignorant of history, economics, and human psychology, so they have the magical “this time it will be different” thinking.

  6. Maybe you could use this for a future qotd :

    http://www.dailypundit.com/?p=115593

    Posted on January 31, 2016 2:47 pm by razorbacker

    I’ve been on my knees, in the muck and mire, the stench in my nostrils. I’ll stand.

    Unbeatable forces force me again down, but again I stand. Pain hurts, but despair kills. I’ll stand.

    Do you think yourself alone, a minority of one? Still stand. One is enough, when one is all that there is. Stand.

    To stand is to make a target of yourself. Stand.

    You will not win. You are doomed to fail. Stand.

    Better men than you have died standing, but all men must die. Stand. Do you not wish to be counted among the better men? Then stand.

    Better to live a slave than die a freeman? If you ask the question, you cannot comprehend the answer. Stand.

    Today is not the day? When, then? Are you so comfortable? Do your knees not ache? Man was not built to kneel, but to stand. So stand.

    You were given a priceless gift, the gift of life. Do not waste it. Stand.

    They will mock as you fall. All men must fall. It is a shorter fall from your knees. But fall from your feet, so as to make a resounding echo. Stand.

    You can live on your knees. You will die on your feet. Choose for yourself; I will not judge. But as for me, I’ll stand.

  7. Pingback: Quote of the day—razorbacker | The View From North Central Idaho

  8. I think what you need is not a seaworthy boat but a spaceworthy starship.

    On that book about Germany: in nearly all countries, the people are “subjects”, meaning and intending that they are “subject” to the will of the government. Germany is not at all unusual in that respect. And Germany certainly is not the only country to suffer the consequences. Consider the Soviet Union, or China, or Japan, or France in the days of Robespierre or Napoleon, just to pick a very small fraction of the available examples. The USA used to be somewhat unusual in this respect, but with modern education that difference has been steadily (and intentionally) eradicated.

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