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| Africa Subsaharan |
| e-Tolling - Roads only used by the rich, get over it. |
| 2012-02-27 |
| Chris Moerdyk's opinion artikel contains much more than the e-tolling title text. Moerdyk's underlying concern and the concern of many others is that they are headed down a road to Zimbabwian governance and economy. Some interesting government attitudes and language parallels. e-toll link |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #6 Road tolls is poor example to make his point. Roads are a finite commodity in many places very expensive to build that people get to use as much as they like for free. The main reason roads are free is that historically it wasn't feasible to charge for using them, except where a road is mostly isolated from the rest of the road network, like the NY state thruway. |
| Posted by: Phil_B 2012-02-27 20:18 |
| #5 "But only if the individuals allow it to happen" Ditto that. |
| Posted by: Dale 2012-02-27 10:28 |
| #4 Africa is horribly tormented by tribalism. When the leaders of a tribe tell the tribe to vote a particular way, they all, to a person, vote that way, blindly following whatever their leaders say. You know that's not confined to Africa. We just use a different term than 'tribe' but its the same fundamental behavior. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2012-02-27 09:48 |
| #3 Oddly enough, in the very long run I think this might be a good thing. At least in Africa. Democracy can only exist where the people not only can assert a choice in government, but where they are willing to do so, as individuals, as well. Africa is horribly tormented by tribalism. When the leaders of a tribe tell the tribe to vote a particular way, they all, to a person, vote that way, blindly following whatever their leaders say. In historical Africa, one tribe was so distraught over the death of their beloved leader that to a person they committed suicide. They are extinct. Crap like this has to end. When the government puts the squeeze on people, indifferent to their hardship, something has to break. In Zimbabwe, it was the people who broke. Tribalism won out, and now that nation has descended into ruin. But South Africa may be different enough for that not to happen. People who think for themselves may be strongly outnumbered by brain dead tribals, but they are far stronger and more resilient. Yet the tribals can overwhelm them by misusing democracy with sheer number of lockstep untermensch. But only if the individuals allow it to happen. The tribals would prefer a descent into a Zimbabwe state, because even in Hell they would rule, and could give up any pretensions of respecting anyone not in their tribe. Right now the non-tribal South Africans are experiencing the death of a thousand cuts. Either they assert themselves or they die out. It is natural selection. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2012-02-27 09:16 |
| #2 Very timely post. Looking at the comments also. Yes, there is the signpost up ahead. I avoid news media but they must be avoiding reality. The captian is in the bar and the ship runs aground. The aircraft controller has fallen asleep. Trains have a deadman's swithch at least. long live the king. I recall an expression that is very old but has been used in history many times. Something like; They have eyes but they cannot see. They have ears and yet they cannot hear. They have a brain yet they cannot comprehend that which they have seen or heard. |
| Posted by: Dale 2012-02-27 07:19 |
| #1 Link failed, please try this one: Link |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2012-02-27 06:52 |