The rule of the Qualified doesn't go far enough. It recognises merit, but what man (or men) can adequately decide merit? If they can, how do they truly know that the individual meets such important standards?
We Roarkians acknowledge this truth. There is a force that treats all according to their merit with just deserves; the Market. Let the invisible hand play its part and direct resources to those who have the brilliance to use them, filtering truly the diamonds from the rabble.
Never been much of a fan of the Market myself. It's like gambling every minute of every day.
Look at the hellhole that is the AF's southern neighbor of Appalachia. That place could not be friendlier to the Market if it tried and it basically became a dumping ground of pollution and international financiers' hidden fortunes.
My boss, Jan Vanderbilt (nephew of former Gouverneur of New Netherlands, Cornelius Vanderbilt) has a private army defending his compound in northern Appalachia. That place is ridiculous.
BAH.
Bloody Money-Mongers.
Roakia is a disgusting abomination of this earth; how can you base a government off the ability to make money?! Plutarchy, the government of the most wealthy, is a natural predecessor to Kleptocracy! When you give the man who's life goal and greatest accomplishments involve his quantity of money, he'll have the same priorities as he did when he was in office! He'll utilize the state apparatus to expand his own fortune and protect his financial interest. Not to mention that running a company is neither similar nor analogous to running a country! This is almost as vile and rebellious as those bloody Democrats-- the Holy Despot should have severed internet connections with Roakia a century ago! Reported for Invoking Hysteria in the Youth!
Infact, how is plutocracy not the natural successor to democracy? The wealthiest people can buy the favor of the most powerful men in the country, as special interest groups poor in funds to make sure that a candidate in a democracy upholds their interest and that said Candidate wins! They can use that money to get support of the people through Propaganda or through more corrupted means such as rigging elections.
On the other hand the Holy Despot rules by the Mandate of God and will always rule through it! If God deems him unfit to rule, then he will die or be overthrown as will all others that come after him: not to mention a clear line of succession allows us to put all of our best educators on the select few whom will likely take control over running the Empire! Not to mention science shows that the family line of the Holy Despot is suggested to have a pure, genetic advantage when it comes to leadership. And if the first Despot was the greatest of all men to ever have breathed then ofcourse this ethereal status would fall apon his children, and will do so for generations to come!
I see the Market run governments of the world as more misguided attempts at creating a meritocracy than trying to set up a democratic or post-democratic state.
I'm not much for the religious blowhards either.
People like that in the AF are generally standing on street corners with massive crosses or signs in their hands. The peacekeepers don't even bother enforcing the anti-protesting laws on their kind because of how ineffective they are.
I'd shudder to imagine what it must be like to live in a country run by them.
And what do you think of the genetic manipulation programs that the AF government is working on? We're well on our way to making the Ubermensch and your still making claims of "Divine Right of Rule."
I have a real problem with government by unfettered greed. How many commoners will you sacrifice on the altar of Mammon?
The concept of noblesse oblige is a thing. Those with power have an obligation to those without. It's not as if our way of life is some sort of serfdom. The mob may not be suitable to run a nation, but they should still be cared for, and you see that in the form of things like the guardian state and public health services.
That sounds a little too Neo-Spartican for my taste. I've heard some rioters in the factory sectors shouting the same thing and I'm not much of a fan.
It's not
that difficult to sign up your child for public education, hire a private tutor for the State Qualification Test, pass it with a 2200/2800 or above, land them a job in an entry level financing position, get them into the Financial Worker Cooperative, and have them set for a good career in the state-run business sector like my folks did.
The idea that noble businessmen seek only money is absurd, but what is wrong with that? It can of course lead to the corruption we see of self-entitled experts who utilise their positions for personal gain, which is why true Roarkians advocate the lessening of the state and putting more in the hands of private enterprise. Quality will be the name of the game, for if a man does not provide efficient political or tangible resources, his competitors will. Reported for not knowing your place and believing you know better than the Holy Despot. We can both play that game.
This is absurd. Not only is democracy the epitome of Altruism, but the best among society naturally forging dominion by filling in a niche and accumulating wealth is how we got aristocracy in the first place, with or without divine right. All we propose is a more efficient and meritous means for such in a new age. and if democracy was being advocated that would be terrible. As it is not, the idea of buying votes is absurd.
whilst this is not my own position, the more theistically minded amongst us believe that it is mans imposition of beauracracy that gets in the way of the invisible hand which represents the natural order and this gods will. Propoganda insults the despot and does not make a good argument. If he is so divinely backed (which may indeed be the case considering his notably superior genetics), he would also "win" in a Roarkian world, but he would also rule a more just one.
This is weird to me because I feel like we have the same approach to ideology, but with dramatically different results. The AF's experimentation with private enterprise was universally disastrous. In Nieuw Engeland, for every successful business that was given credentials, there were two failures and the Gouverneur quickly decided to just nationalize it all.
I agree that the Divine Rule nonsense seems really old fashioned and almost laughable, but so is the idea that the Market can be anything but a gamble. It's like that game Russen soldiers played in the Great European Wars. They took a revolver, and filled two of the five barrels with bullet. They would spin it and fire at their own heads to try to end their suffering on the front with Germania.
I actually think I might have seen a cartoon of that in school when we were learning about the Market. Huh, that's funny.