The American Diasporat
24-06-2005, 20:37
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. " - Thomas Jefferson
It's dark. Well, not so much dark as there isn't enough light for someone to call it bright out. There's a crowd standing outside a building that vaguely resembles the White House: indeed, the only difference is the battered look of this building could never be seen on the proud center of the American Republic. However, on a second glance, and by looking at one's surroundings, one can only conclude that this is the White House.
Further leaps of logic would tell you that this crowd might have something to do with the damage done to the building. Everyone in it is armed, whether with a simple butcher's knife taken from a shop in a rush, a shotgun brought from a man's home miles away in Rural America, a hunting rifle taken down from some rich man's mantle, or even a recently purchased military surplus assault rifle. All of these weapons are eager to be used. As a matter of fact, they stand a decent chance of such; on a day like today, violence becomes expected.
A single man departs from the forefront of the crowd, a shotgun held loosely by his thigh in one hand a balled fist in the other one. He slowly climbs the steps up towards the front door of the Not-So-White-Anymore House, closely watched by a cadre of suited men with pistols stationed at a myriad of windows around and above the entrance.
The man is oblivious to all this, his attention centered on the man that is even now cowering somewhere within the building. The tyrant, the despot that riled up these people enough to cause the one thing that has but two results: liberty or death. Keeping his eyes riveted on the front door until he reaches the top of the steps, he suddenly spins, the surprise action causing several of the younger suited men to tighten their trigger fingers ever so slightly.
The man surveys the crowd, the people in front of him, spread throughout the entire of the White House's lawn on all sides. Then, in another sudden action, he thrusts his shotgun into the air, simultaneously yelling and pulling the trigger.
"FREEEEEEEEEEEEDDOOOOOOOM"
A few hours later, the latest revolution is over. The old dictator of the United States of America is dead and his appointed replacement has taken his chair. The man, now standing in the front hall of the White House, is talking on a cell phone. He is working on plans to get the damage to the building repaired, the entire thing repainted to restore its former glory.
Things had gone very well for him, just as they had for his father, and his grandfather before him.
You see, this wasn't just the first revolution America had experienced since the war in 1776, not even the second. It was one of a dozen.
America had been, for a while at least, a shotgun democracy. A system of government that circumvents the bureaucracy and politics of a Republic but maintains the power of the people in government.
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Hello everyone, if you've read this far, I'm hoping the opening of this post has you intrigued. The meaning of it is a way of introducing what I hope would be a solution to the current problem faced by the world's peoples, namely that large countries have an immense amount of trouble in being efficient and free at the same time. A new system of government that preserves the social contract but gets rid of the politicians that muck things up.
This solution is what I have dubbed Shotgun Democracy, or a democracy where the violent power of the People and their ability to revolt is the deciding factor. Basically, the people are the ultimate check on corruption.
It is rather complicated in its intricies, but on the surface it is simple: a single person is appointed dictator for life. Upon being enthroned, this person must immediately chose a successer. Now, this isn't a permenant decision, they can change it whenever they want to, they just need to fill out the proper forms.
The check against the dictator's power, however, is that he must maintain a re-written bill of rights (Re-written in the sense of making it clearer in certain areas like the 1st and 2nd amendments). This ensures the populace will always retain the ability to bear arms. The dictator has no power to change this bill of rights, that can only be done with an 75% in favor vote of the people.
There is also included the right of the people to revolt when not satisfied with the way the dictator is running things. Considering the sheer amount of people in this country, this means the dictator has to work pretty damned hard to keep everyone happy, otherwise we get a situation like the above.
The basic reasoning being this: what does a man value more than his life?
Is this system rather disrespectful of the value of the dictator's life? Yes, it is, but it is necessary for liberty to florish.
NOTE: I have not included all my thoughts on this subject in this topic, but feel free to ask any question you might have, I probably have an answer for it.
It's dark. Well, not so much dark as there isn't enough light for someone to call it bright out. There's a crowd standing outside a building that vaguely resembles the White House: indeed, the only difference is the battered look of this building could never be seen on the proud center of the American Republic. However, on a second glance, and by looking at one's surroundings, one can only conclude that this is the White House.
Further leaps of logic would tell you that this crowd might have something to do with the damage done to the building. Everyone in it is armed, whether with a simple butcher's knife taken from a shop in a rush, a shotgun brought from a man's home miles away in Rural America, a hunting rifle taken down from some rich man's mantle, or even a recently purchased military surplus assault rifle. All of these weapons are eager to be used. As a matter of fact, they stand a decent chance of such; on a day like today, violence becomes expected.
A single man departs from the forefront of the crowd, a shotgun held loosely by his thigh in one hand a balled fist in the other one. He slowly climbs the steps up towards the front door of the Not-So-White-Anymore House, closely watched by a cadre of suited men with pistols stationed at a myriad of windows around and above the entrance.
The man is oblivious to all this, his attention centered on the man that is even now cowering somewhere within the building. The tyrant, the despot that riled up these people enough to cause the one thing that has but two results: liberty or death. Keeping his eyes riveted on the front door until he reaches the top of the steps, he suddenly spins, the surprise action causing several of the younger suited men to tighten their trigger fingers ever so slightly.
The man surveys the crowd, the people in front of him, spread throughout the entire of the White House's lawn on all sides. Then, in another sudden action, he thrusts his shotgun into the air, simultaneously yelling and pulling the trigger.
"FREEEEEEEEEEEEDDOOOOOOOM"
A few hours later, the latest revolution is over. The old dictator of the United States of America is dead and his appointed replacement has taken his chair. The man, now standing in the front hall of the White House, is talking on a cell phone. He is working on plans to get the damage to the building repaired, the entire thing repainted to restore its former glory.
Things had gone very well for him, just as they had for his father, and his grandfather before him.
You see, this wasn't just the first revolution America had experienced since the war in 1776, not even the second. It was one of a dozen.
America had been, for a while at least, a shotgun democracy. A system of government that circumvents the bureaucracy and politics of a Republic but maintains the power of the people in government.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello everyone, if you've read this far, I'm hoping the opening of this post has you intrigued. The meaning of it is a way of introducing what I hope would be a solution to the current problem faced by the world's peoples, namely that large countries have an immense amount of trouble in being efficient and free at the same time. A new system of government that preserves the social contract but gets rid of the politicians that muck things up.
This solution is what I have dubbed Shotgun Democracy, or a democracy where the violent power of the People and their ability to revolt is the deciding factor. Basically, the people are the ultimate check on corruption.
It is rather complicated in its intricies, but on the surface it is simple: a single person is appointed dictator for life. Upon being enthroned, this person must immediately chose a successer. Now, this isn't a permenant decision, they can change it whenever they want to, they just need to fill out the proper forms.
The check against the dictator's power, however, is that he must maintain a re-written bill of rights (Re-written in the sense of making it clearer in certain areas like the 1st and 2nd amendments). This ensures the populace will always retain the ability to bear arms. The dictator has no power to change this bill of rights, that can only be done with an 75% in favor vote of the people.
There is also included the right of the people to revolt when not satisfied with the way the dictator is running things. Considering the sheer amount of people in this country, this means the dictator has to work pretty damned hard to keep everyone happy, otherwise we get a situation like the above.
The basic reasoning being this: what does a man value more than his life?
Is this system rather disrespectful of the value of the dictator's life? Yes, it is, but it is necessary for liberty to florish.
NOTE: I have not included all my thoughts on this subject in this topic, but feel free to ask any question you might have, I probably have an answer for it.