Re:The gift of it's your problem now
by WalterBright on Thursday December 30, 2021 @10:38PM
(#29744612)
The rise in the standard of living in China is directly correlated with their adoption of a free market and dispensing with collectivism.
> Saudi Arabia is a strong ally of the US, and doesn’t seem close to collapse.
Why not tour Saudi Arabia and come back with a report about how people there live?
I wasn't making any claim about the lives of people in Saudi Arabia... my only claim is that it is an absolute monarchy, it is still around and not close to collapse, and is an ally of the US. All of those things are objectively true. It isn't only democratic countries that have survived.
Re:The gift of it's your problem now
by WalterBright on Friday December 31, 2021 @01:28PM
(#29750938)
I didn't make an argument about longevity.
You are picking examples that fit your idea of what natural rights should be, and are ignoring the countless counter examples. If a free society is fundamentally better, why is China so successful? Countless empires have been built on 5e backs of slaves, conquered people, and oppression. Yes, most eventually collapsed, but so have all democracies except the ones that are currently around… and there is no reason to believe the ones around are the “end state” of the evolution and not just a snapshot of civilizations that will eventually collapse like all those that came before. Democracies have fallen, to be replaced by dictatorships… dictatorships still exist, and many are successful members of the international community… Saudi Arabia is a strong ally of the US, and doesn’t seem close to collapse.