> Democracy and freedom are contradictory. Extropians want freedom,
> diversity, and expansion. Democracy encourages conformism, unity, and
> that I don't live for the day when there will be nothing to vote for.
Still awaiting an existence proof, myself. I like a formulation of
liberalism, ironically drawn from socialists: conservatives believe power
should be in the hands of a trusted elite. Democrats believe it should be in
the hands of the people. Some 'radicals' believe it should be abolished.
Liberals don't trust anyone -- elite, people, themselves -- and don't believe
power can go away, so they favor spreading it around, even if that increases
it. Diverse powers in Newtonian balance, cancelling out to zero.
Some anarchists are similar, but seem to require breaking up large
concentrations of power so that lots of small power units can cancel out
better.
-xx- GCU Mindstalker X-)
Piety, n: Reverence for the Supreme Being, based on His supposed
resemblance to man.
-- Ambrose Bierce, _The Devil's Dictionary_