anonym comments on Are you a Democrat singletonian, or a Republican singletonian? - Less Wrong

-12 Post author: PhilGoetz 01 October 2009 09:35PM

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Comment author: anonym 03 October 2009 05:22:29PM *  0 points [-]

I was more referring to the discussion of democrats and republicans, which seemed especially shallow and poorly argued. For example, you argue (well, actually you state without an argument) that neither especially cares how things were done in the past, but saying that they both want some changes and considering that evidence that there is no statistically significant difference between how those two parties think about the past and traditional norms rooted in the past..., well, that's just silly.

Comment author: PhilGoetz 08 October 2009 04:23:28AM *  1 point [-]

How about this not-thoroughly-researched but possibly-mostly-correct summary:

  • Republicans want 19th-century American weapons laws; Democrats want 18th-century European weapons laws.
  • Republicans want 19th-century business laws; Democrats want 18th-century business laws (strict governmental control, strong workers' guilds).
  • Republicans want 20th-century abortion law; Democrats want 1st through 19th-century abortion law.
  • Republicans want 19th-century environmental laws; Democrats want medieval environmental laws (vast nature preserves which the population must leave untouched).
  • Republicans want medieval taxation (special tax exemptions for the wealthy) or post-Augustinian Roman taxation (a flat head tax); Democrats want pre-Augustinian Roman taxation (taxation primarily of real estate).
  • Republicans want a 20th-century American interventionist large military; Democrats want an 18th or 19th-century American isolationist small military.

The only pattern I see is that Republicans seem to have shorter memories.

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