
The improbable victory of 28-year-old self-described socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez over high-ranking Democrat incumbent Joe Crowley (from -36 to +15 in 3 weeks) triggered pundits across the political spectrum.
But here’s the thing.
There have been 10,000 socioeconomic systems in the course of human history, and there will be 10,000 more long after we’re dead. The notion that our 1.5-century-old mixed economy will be humanity’s final organizing principle– from now until the sun extinguishes in 5 billion years– is patently absurd.
And if we’re being honest…??
All socioeconomic systems work
Free markets, centralized governments, low taxes, high taxes, tyranny, laissez-faire, fascism, socialism– they have all worked (and they have all have failed) throughout history.
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Gov’t: Caesar Augustus and his successors ruled as emperors, while a neutered Roman Senate served as a rubber stamp. Economically, the Roman Empire drifted from command economy to feudalism.
Results: 200 years of peace, prosperity, and imperial expansion unlike the world had ever known. |
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Gov’t: A tyrannical regime whose central planners tinkered with the economy and the destinies of millions as they saw fit.
Results: Known as the Golden Age, the Han Dynasty’s 4-century rule brought about paper money, guns, and decimal numbers. |
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Gov’t: A religious monarchy, FFS even that worked!
Results: The 1st global superpower with territory on 5 continents, Spain was the richest and most powerful country on Earth. |
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Gov’t: Fascism/populism.
Results: You can say what you want, but the economy improved drastically and the trains ran on time. For an anti-communist party, the Nazis were pretty big on public assistance and social welfare programs for the non-murdered. |
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Gov’t: Communism/fascism.
Results: You can say what you want, but from ~1920 to 1960, Russia went from an agriculture-based backwater rejected by Europe to an industrialized global superpower rivaled only by the US of A (which is like finishing 2nd in a 3-point shooting contest to Steph Curry). To this day, Russia remains one of the most feared nations on Earth thanks in large part to the work of Lenin & Stalin. |
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Gov’t: Various, with nationalized or “socialist” universal healthcare.
Results: 7 of the Top 10 economies on Earth. |
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Gov’t: Various, ranging from heavily-centralized to borderline murderous, tyrannical regimes. |
You could even argue that the hunter-gatherer system is a resounding success, since, you know, it fed humanity for like 100,000 years– which after all, is kind of the point??
Conclusion
Nothing matters. The only objectively correct way to spend one’s short time on Earth is to have sex with as many women as possible so as to dominate and ruin them for all future suitors.