Efficiency (noun) – Operating quickly and effectively in an organized way. Synonyms: Competence, expertise. Antonym: Democracy.
In the midst of a record-length government shutdown, my country held elections this week. None of us really knew what we were doing. But the important thing is that we exercised our right to do it!
“Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others that have been tried.”
~Winston Churchill
Great point
I think the form of socialism described in Acts and alluded to frequently by Jesus and followers is the closest form of government we can get to loving our neighbors (and enemies) more than “riches.” I have given away a lot of coats, but I still have too many.
I agree, Rita. (But not about the coats ;>)
Better to express a political view in a voting booth than have one pushed down upon you from someone that was never voted in at all. We may at times disagree with a political view, but we need to defend people’s rights to have them.
I couldn’t agree more, Huw.
Yeah! Good point. 👍🏼 😒
Love the way you make your point with humor, Mitch! Sometimes grandiose ideas get in the way of common sense. Another issue: insufficient knowledge of history. Churchill also said:”Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
Thanks, dear Nancy. (P.S. Churchill is oh so quotable, but that particular line is from George Santayana.)
You’re right, Mitch, Santayana originated the idea for this quote. But from what I read, Churchill tweaked it to the version I quoted above. (My source WAS the internet, and we all know how problematic that can be!) I should have given credit to both–to be on the safe side!
Interesting, Nancy. I’ve never seen it ascribed to Churchill before.
Some of the images are mind boggling 😁
On the upside of viewing these mind-boggling images-I now feel much smarter than I did just prior to reading your blog. Great quote by Churchill, Mitch. 🙂
;>) Thanks, Nancy.
It’s nice to be able to laugh at ourselves and perhaps learn something going forward. Or, is that too much to ask?
😆 These are great! (Ah, the toilets of our dreams, lol.)
“Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others that have been tried.” This is a great quote, much truth to it, and it matches your wit and tone perfectly… a succinct reminder of both the beauty and the chaos of democracy! Messy as it is, democracy gives us ownership of our mistakes—and sometimes, with luck, of our progress. Thanks for the humor and insight!
My pleasure, Dalo, and thanks for your feedback!
Meantime, neo-liberals and -conservatives remain overly preoccupied with vocally criticizing one another for their relatively trivial politics and therefore divert attention away from the planet’s and humanity’s greatest threats where it actually very-much should and needs to be sharply focused.
A corresponding very large and still growing number of people are too overworked, tired, worried and rightfully angry about such unaffordability thus insecurity for themselves or their family — largely due to insufficient income — to sufficiently criticize and/or boycott Big Business/Industry for the societal damage it needlessly causes/allows, particularly when not immediately observable. And I doubt that this effect is totally accidental, as it greatly benefits the interests of insatiable corporate greed.
We in the Far West live in a virtual corpocracy, regardless of who’s elected prime minister or president. Leaders are elected via the first-past-the-post ballot system, which enables an insidiously covert rule by way of potently manipulative/persuasive corporate and big-monied lobbyists. ‘We are a capitalist nation, after all,’ the morally lame justification typically goes.
‘Calamity’ Jane Bodine, in the film Our Brand Is Crisis, is probably correct in stating: “If voting changed anything [in favor of the poor and disenfranchised] they’d have made it illegal.”
some great images there! 🤣
By the way, this is interesting:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economist_Democracy_Index
⬻𓂀✧ 🔺 ✬ღ☆ 🔺 ∞ ♡ ∞ 🔺 ☆ღ✬ 🔺 ✧𓂀⤖
Mussolini, the fascist, made the trains run on time. Not again, not again.
That bridge photo… actually happened here. Quite a misalignment 🤷♀️…
Wow! I’m guessing somebody got fired.
I doubt Mitch. You know birds of the same feather.
I’m completely unsure as to the political content , but I think this is a wonderful post , and I hope things work out for the best for our nation.
Photos are very interesting (AI, I hope 😉 )
Someone onced said that the greatest advantage of democracy is that it allows for a change of power without bloodshed.
There’s a lot of truth in that statement.
A few social/labor uprisings or revolutions notwithstanding, the superfluously rich and powerful have always had the police and military ready to foremost protect their big-money/-power interests, even over the basic needs of the masses.
Even today, the police and military can, and I believe they probably would, claim (using euphemistic or political terminology, of course) that they had to bust heads to maintain law and order as a priority during major demonstrations, especially those against economic injustices. Indirectly supported by complacent or compliant corporate news-media, the absurdly unjust inequities/inequalities can persist.
I can imagine there were/are lessons learned from successful social/labor uprisings — a figurative How to Hinder Progressive Revolutions 101, maybe? — with the clarity of hindsight by big power/money interests in order to avoid any repeat of such great wealth/power losses.
We in the Far West live in a virtual corpocracy, regardless of who’s elected prime minister or president. Leaders are elected via the first-past-the-post ballot system, which enables an insidiously covert rule by way of potently manipulative/persuasive corporate and big-monied lobbyists.
Apparently, the superfluous-wealth desires of the few, and especially the one, increasingly outweigh the life-necessity needs of the many. The more they make, all the more they want — nay, need! — to make next time. It’s never enough.