What is Reddit's opinion of The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics?

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

>But but but libertarians tell me if there were no laws they would be double super honest! After all if the laws are already ineffective surely having none would be soooo much better...

No libertarians don't actually think that. They just think having a strong central government makes it easier for companies to do their bullshit, not harder. Just continuing to use the US as an example, as a dishonest corp you have to just bribe one central entity and they have vast powers to re-write laws to favor you and eliminate competition so you can do whatever you want. By contrast if you have a weak central government there isn't a strong entity to corrupt and you have a vast array of different groups to corrupt to get your unfettered access, such as the various independent organizations covering things like standards, ratings, reputation, credit, mediation, security, etc. And none of them have a monopoly they can be easily replaced by more reliable entities. Just as a real world example of what such groups look like see things such as UL (Electricity standards), ISO, ANSI, credit bureaus, etc.

Continuing with real world examples, with the EU parliament getting stronger every day, you can expect those consumer protections start to erode. It's much easier to bribe some MEPs than it is to bribe every legislature from every separate country in Europe. Article 13's just a preview of things to come. All countries naturally gravitate toward more government power and less freedom as seizing a nation's capital to remain in power as long as possible is the end goal of all politicians.

Check out The Dictators handbook, fascinating and depressing take on how this works. Rewarding the minumum coalition you need, Trump was just more obvious about it

The Dictators Handbook

I don't think I am being pessimistic, I am just thinking logically and am armed with information provided in the dictator handbook ( The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005GPSLHI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_Qu4FBbXWJ5Z9G )

Si les interesa seguir leyendo mas del tema el libro se llama: "The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics"

Si vistes los dos videos, veras que no es trivial; es basado en un libro llamado "The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics"

Dudo que el 99% entienda como el poder opera exactamente, tienen algún tipo de imaginación. SI fuese trivial como tu dices no existiría ese libro tan famoso que te abre la mente a como es el juego de cartas realmente. La gente se cree que pq ve "House of Cards" son la hostia en politica y a pesar que es muy buena la serie le falta pa competir con libros como este.

Pero bueno estoy seguro que no vas a ver, ni los video pq eres PNP y hablo de RR en el titulo cuando esto aplica a todos los politicos. Es una lastima pq el contenido de esos videos es un buen resumen del libro, CGP Grey se tomio la molestia de resumirlo en 2 videos en un total de 25 minutos para los vagos que no leen o las personas que no tienen tiempo. Pero bueno seguimos con la ignorancia que es mas ventajosa en estos tiempos.

I recommend checking out this book if you have the time.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005GPSLHI/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

I'm not advocating screwing over the citizens of Flint, I'm pointing out that it is the unfortunate reality of the situation.

Hadn’t heard about this, and will definitely investigate.

A related resource I’ve found is CGP Grey’s “Rules for Rulers” YouTube dyad (part 1, part 2), which is based on the excellent Dictator’s Handbook.

The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics.

There's a solid summary on the internet provided by CGP Grey, The Rules for Rulers

I think I would also direct them to this video, made in the 1940s that ISM cartoon I'm sure people are quick to point out that communism is strongly implied in that video; but really, any authoritarian regime has these problems. Freedom and liberty should be of highest importance in this country. As a country, we've absolutely forgotten that.

Dato che parli di anti establishment e mi sembri una persona ragionevole, ti faccio qualche appunto che magari serve come spunto di riflessione in futuro.

La parola anti-establishment è una parola completamente vuota. Chi promette di abbattere l'establishment lo fa perché vuole diventarlo esso stesso.

Il punto è che molte delle sovrastrutture governative non sono costrutti artificiosi fatti per succhiare potere, ma conseguenze necessarie e spesso machiaveliche per scaricare le tensioni e mettere d'accordo decine di stati con molteplici interessi contrastanti. Se hai idea di quanto sia complicato fare una riunione di condominio, puoi immaginare come sia divertente accordare decine di stati nazionali.

Ciò non significa che persone in malafede aplrofittino della complessità di queste istituzioni per instaurare strutture di potere. Ma risolvere questo va nella direzione opposta al distruggere l'establishment.

Altro problema. Non è che lo spazio lasciato libero da un establishment che se ne va rimane vuoto. Bensì, come un gas qualcuno arriverà a riempirlo. Solitamente a riempire questi spazi sono suoerpotenze estere (Russia, USA, Cina) o corporazioni private (come nel caso dell'Africa, la cui frammentazione in decine di stati in conflitto è sicuramente incoraggiata dall'occiddente e fa da terreno fertile per società private che de facto sono stati negli stati).

L'UE ad esempio è il bersaglio classico di establishment per molti partiti. Anche se è vero che la commissione europea è poco rappresentativa degli stati e andrebbe riformata, L'UE è l'unica massa critica in grado di giocare ad armi quasi pari con gli altri elementi in gioco. Quando qualcuno parla di eliminarla chiediti sempre "a chi gioverebbe?".

Detto questo, ho fatto un pippone OT da cellulare. Solo perché la macro politica e la teoria dei giochi mi piace parecchio e mi piace parlarne in modo non convenzionale :D.

Magari quando torno a casa edito e aggiungo link a un paio di libri al riguardo.

EDIT: Ecco il promesso angolo dei libri!

• The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics [Amazon] -- La fa un po' facile e non devi prenderlo come oro colato. Ma è il più "divulgativo" dei libri e getta le basi per tutta una serie di ragionamenti più complessi.
• The Logic of Political Survival [Amazon] Stesso autore, 6 anni prima. Più formale ma un mattone da quasi 600 pagine. Per veri appassionati. :D
• The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups [Amazon] -- Piccolo ma denso manualetto sulla teoria dei gruppi applicata ai beni pubblici.
• The Best and the Brightest [Amazon]
• Man, the State, and War: A Theoretical Analysis [Amazon] -- Un grande classico di politica internazionale.

Direi che per ora basta. Se devi cominciare da qualche parte, consiglio il primo e l'ultimo. Sono più brevi, densi e divulgativi.

Wow, he's doing it by the book.

Also, good watch.

This may make or break the Iranian government.

The world we live in is one where free, democratic counties are stable, a powerful, authoritarian dictatorships are stable. Dictators that try to become benevolent rulers and cross this gap often fall to revolutions.

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Iran is precariously in the middle. Their citizens are much richer than citizens in dictatorships, they have a (semi) democratic parliament and President with considerable power within the government, and citizens have access to considerable rights and freedoms over many citizens all over the world. However, compared to many democracies, they lack many personal freedoms many of us in Democracies are accustomed to, and enjoy.

If protestors are successful, it could open the floodgates for reforms and a total collapse of control the Iranian government maintains. The government is in a Catch-22 situation, in trying to maintain stability, squashing protests only adds more fuel to the fire, while giving into protestors can open the floodgates of reforms that could destroy the government, lead to more protests, all which could lead to a revolution.

However, only time will tell.

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Relevant CGP Grey video and the book it was adapted from, 'The Dictator's Handbook'

I recommend you reading The Dictator's Handbook, which is summarized in this video. As a politician, you only have two options:

• be as good-hearted as you can, and lose all your power.
• keep your power by being corrupt. (Massive oversimplification. Bear with me)

Thus, all politicians with power will be corrupt (to an extent). Why then, do we sometimes have good things? It is either

• useful for corruption: Let's say Amazon is having road accidents when delivering their packages, which is costing them money. They'll loby with the senators and governors to improve the roads. The senators and governors will excuse this budget by saying "it's for the people."
• brings more votes
• social pressure

I do believe social pressure is the best way that citizens can persuade the government to do something. All politicans are merely puppets of the system and the corporations. Is social media the best option? Perhaps not. They should:

• send tons of emails and phone calls to their representatives
• organize and protest
• sign petitions etc

But I don't think they should run for office.

PS: Why are some politicans better than others? It's all about who their pupeteer is. If oil companies are behind them, they'll want to promote car transportation and wage war. If tech companies are behind them, they'll want to improve the average wage so that people can affort phones. Really, read the book

I HIGHLY recommend "The Dictators Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics" as an introduction to my outlook on power structure. From my interpretation of the text, it shows how politics often boil down to incentive systems, and how they are manipulated by the actors within.

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Dictators-Handbook-Behavior-Almost-Politics-ebook/dp/B005GPSLHI

http://www.amazon.com/The-Dictators-Handbook-Behavior-Politics-ebook/dp/B005GPSLHI

To anti-Trumpgeniuses I would like to point something out:

Start with the blog http://www.cgpgrey.com/blog/rules-for-rulers

The look up the book: https://www.amazon.com/Dictators-Handbook-Behavior-Almost-Politics-ebook/dp/B005GPSLHI/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1477309620&sr=1-1&keywords=the+dictator%27s+handbook&linkCode=sl1&tag=greyblog-20&linkId=...

Note that it was published in 2011.

Now let's read the description:

> For eighteen years, Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith have been part of a team revolutionizing the study of politics by turning conventional wisdom on its head. They start from a single assertion: Leaders do whatever keeps them in power. They don't care about the “national interest”—or even their subjects—unless they have to. > This clever and accessible book shows that the difference between tyrants and democrats is just a convenient fiction. Governments do not differ in kind but only in the number of essential supporters, or backs that need scratching. The size of this group determines almost everything about politics: what leaders can get away with, and the quality of life or misery under them. The picture the authors paint is not pretty. But it just may be the truth, which is a good starting point for anyone seeking to improve human governance.

If you make the conclusion: let's keep government as small as humanly possible - yay! Good for you.

If you conclusion is: red team sucks, blue team rocks, then OMFG!

I can't even! How? How do you not see or smell the fucking rotting sperm whale in the room?

You know, red team, at least in name is the government opposition party. Blue team is all for more government. It is not even symmetric ...