[FRIAM] Democracy and evolution

[Alfredo]

Maybe no other Democracy is evolving more than Latin American Democracy. 
A few months ago I told you about Latin America turns to left and I said 
that It could be a case of emergence.  Process seems to be 
consolidating, during the last month two left presidents were reelected 
and a new one was elected. But in my opinion there are other features 
more important behind left presidents phenomena. It's not as simple as 
'apparition' of populist candidates  or isolated leaders, in fact in 
some countries there is a consolidation  of solid left democratic 
parties. But not only are appearing or emerging left parties, members  
of traditional Liberal and Conservator parties are conforming the right 
party. It's a very interesting feature of the new Latin American 
democratic tendency.  Maybe is an irony, but left could finally 
consolidate Democracy in Latin America because political power is no 
more  exclusive of the same white families whom had been dominating  
politics along two centuries.

Right politics tends to deny it, but political debate in Latin America 
turns around property, is a debate over social classes. Left parties 
consider necessary to replace current economical model. This region is 
consider  the most inequitable of the world and neoliberalism is 
increasing it. Huge unemployment, huge subemployment, population with 
unsatisfied basic needs are pushing. Unfortunatelly, I think left will 
not return job to people because modern production systems have changed 
and robots, smart software and biotechnology have replaced the worker.  
In my opinion It's the biggest obstacle for left consolidation and of 
course common people just claim for job. Probably left governments will 
be obligated to appeal to drastic measures.  Maybe they are considering 
two or  three strategies: recover by expropriation totally or partially 
the property of strategic  companies recently sold by neoliberal 
governments, or agree with these foreign  companies  a redistributions 
of profits. Of course, land property redistribution claimed since 60's 
could be implemented.  In fact, It already started to occur in two 
countries and is generating tensions with a couple of developed nations. 
But those developed countries are unable to invoke to traditional  
intervention because are not treating with a lonely sheep out of the 
flock. And it's  other important feature: democratic left is creating a 
block  in the region.




Phil Henshaw wrote:

>Marcus wrote:
>  
>
>>PPARYSKI at aol.com wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>In my experience those societies that have some homogeneity also are
>>>the most tolerant and therefore diverse ideas do emerge. Sweden and 
>>>even Poland.
>>> 
>>>      
>>>
>>Make the group like the individual and vice versa and then 
>>self-preservation is group-preservation, and vice versa.
>>It risks making the group slower moving, but a collective 
>>cognition is a 
>>potential economy of scale.  Does one want to optimize for 
>>diverse ideas 
>>or strong execution on a few ideas?  The latter can be very 
>>profitable 
>>and have excellent survival characteristics, especially in the United 
>>States.
>>    
>>
>
>I think the developed world is a really remarkable new thing on earth.
>It's huge, but still doubles in size and complexity approximately every
>20 years.  Clearly one of the things it prospers from is an incredible
>tolerance and need for all different kinds of skills and interests.
>When you earn money, you have no idea what your customer will do with
>the product you give to them and neither do they know what you'll do
>with the money you're paid.  It's a marvelous and essential fact of how
>things work in an economy, that every exchange essentially has no
>purpose, because the next person in the exchanges of the usual
>'earning-spending chain' is entirely free to do whatever they like with
>what they take away from it.  What it does produce is the kind of well
>oiled machine that no one in a billion years could possibly design, or
>even actually understand. 
>
>What takes a while to see is that we are actually in danger of loosing
>that, because of a certain intolerance built into the other form of
>economic exchange, the 'saving-investment chain'.   That's the one with
>exponential strings attached to each transaction that form a rigid
>behavioral requirement for the recipients.  You must add a percent to
>the pile if you're to remain in business.
>
>It may well be that settled and cohesive societies that have low social
>barriers and general tolerance for individual differences, treating
>everyone as an equal, will more readily respond to change and
>successfully answer threats to their survival.  I think I observe
>something of the kind in the response of the low crime areas of New York
>City to the crack epidemic in the 80's.  The curves clearly show that
>they responded much earlier and much more effectively to the scourge
>that overtook the 'wild cowboy' neighborhoods of East New York,
>Brownsville, Harlem and the South Bronx.
>
>Social structure does matter, but 30 doublings, a reasonable estimate of
>the multiplication of wealth since the modern age of growth began, is
>more than the acceleration of a meter per second, a nice slow walk, to
>the speed of light.  The plan for the earth is to keep doubling the size
>and complexity of our own lives and impacts on the planet every 20 years
>or so, forever.   We call it 'stability'.   The question is, what sort
>of mind notices such curious things?  Is it an efficient one, skipping
>all the non-essential tasks?  Is it one that's comfortable with the way
>things are, is tolerant and helps people get along?   Or is it one with
>a habit of poking around and shaking things up?   I observe nature is a
>mix, and if you don't know all three of those ways of getting along,
>you're not up to speed.
>
>
>  
>
>>David Breecker wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>If Paul is correct, this is fascinating.  Perhaps there is some
>>>minimum threshold of confidence in the integrity of our 
>>>      
>>>
>>"self," beyond 
>>    
>>
>>>which we can afford to be tolerant of the "other"
>>>      
>>>
>>Not just integrity of self, but more-seriously the reliability of the 
>>leadership of the collective.   There's no point in serving an ideal 
>>that isn't individually beneficial if the ideal it serves has been 
>>compromised by corruption.    It seems to me a society (or 
>>organization) 
>>with sufficient wealth to nurture the development of complex 
>>skills, and 
>>a culture that valued full utilization of the individual, 
>>could be very 
>>healthy and still protect itself from competing strategies.  However, 
>>it's not clear that psychological health and performance are tightly 
>>correlated.   I mean, even if corporate workers are miserable, it 
>>depends whether they are operating at 20% or 80% mental efficiency 
>>compared to their peers in a more Utopian system.
>>    
>>
>
>Self-esteem is very hard to come bye sometimes, and it's equally
>difficult for others to nourish in an individual that is an unknown
>commodity.   My 19 year old son is in that in-between world, where
>there's relatively very little evidence of his taking charge, so that
>his parents are apt to leap at any small sign.  It certainly helps to
>remember that I was a lot worse, though, so I also sympathize with the
>parents who were prodigies and have normal kids.   'Finding one's self'
>is not an efficient process, and steadily doubling the amount of
>learning required for basic functioning in the 'collective' is
>problematic.   I think the 'leadership of the collective', as Marcus
>puts it, is showing a peculiar negligence in this regard.   We're simply
>not making a world that's possible to operate in a huge variety of ways.
>
>Our leaders today are the kind who drive the ship of state off an
>obvious cliff and then crawl out of the wreck on the barren canyon floor
>talking confidently about how they're finally getting the knack of
>steering.   It could almost make one intolerant...
>
>
>
>
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