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	<title>Comments on: Explaining the Democrats’ Success</title>
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		<title>By: Guest</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/bruce-thornton/the-democrats-success-and-the-dysfunctions-of-democracy/comment-page-1/#comment-3909575</link>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Guest]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 16 Nov 2012 05:14:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=164756#comment-3909575</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Yeah, you know that actually happened, right? That Caesar left a big chunk of money to the populace (that&#039;s how you spell it, by the way)? It&#039;s not just something in a play by Shakespeare. 
 
One thing the fall of the Roman Republic teaches us, by the way, is that when conservatives are too obstructionist towards the progressives, to the point that they let the majority of their population languish, the progressives eventually crush them because they have the force of an angry mob behind them. If the Optimates had been a little more willing to compromise on issues like land reform, the Populares might never have had so much leverage. Just something to think about: maybe the &quot;free stuff&quot; system is really a &quot;you&#039;re not using it and you can&#039;t take it with you and I need it so I&#039;m going to take a little&quot; system. Potato potatoe (a Dan Quayle potato), right? ]]></description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Yeah, you know that actually happened, right? That Caesar left a big chunk of money to the populace (that&#039;s how you spell it, by the way)? It&#039;s not just something in a play by Shakespeare. </p>
<p>One thing the fall of the Roman Republic teaches us, by the way, is that when conservatives are too obstructionist towards the progressives, to the point that they let the majority of their population languish, the progressives eventually crush them because they have the force of an angry mob behind them. If the Optimates had been a little more willing to compromise on issues like land reform, the Populares might never have had so much leverage. Just something to think about: maybe the &quot;free stuff&quot; system is really a &quot;you&#039;re not using it and you can&#039;t take it with you and I need it so I&#039;m going to take a little&quot; system. Potato potatoe (a Dan Quayle potato), right? </p>
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		<title>By: Guest</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/bruce-thornton/the-democrats-success-and-the-dysfunctions-of-democracy/comment-page-1/#comment-3909324</link>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Guest]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 16 Nov 2012 04:21:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=164756#comment-3909324</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[That&#039;s right, he kept all the money for the Romans (and spent it on things like building pagan temples in Rome) instead of returning it to &quot;entitlement&quot; programs. Yet somehow Christ still told the Judaeans to pay their taxes. Strange, eh? ]]></description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>That&#039;s right, he kept all the money for the Romans (and spent it on things like building pagan temples in Rome) instead of returning it to &quot;entitlement&quot; programs. Yet somehow Christ still told the Judaeans to pay their taxes. Strange, eh? </p>
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		<title>By: A Hellenist</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/bruce-thornton/the-democrats-success-and-the-dysfunctions-of-democracy/comment-page-1/#comment-3909240</link>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[A Hellenist]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 16 Nov 2012 04:04:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=164756#comment-3909240</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&quot;The differences between the political mechanisms of ancient Athens and those of America today do not erase the similarities of mentality and sensibility popular rule creates in its citizens.&quot; 
 
Perhaps not, but those differences do make an analogy between the Athenians&#039; decision to embark on the Sicilian expedition and the re-election of President Obama a particularly faulty one. I suspect you know that, however, and are just engaging in a bit of petty demagoguery of your own. Certainly the rabid comments that have been posted would support such a conclusion. 
 
Here is where the analogy breaks down, folks, since it is clear that most of you haven&#039;t actually read Thucydides: Athens had virtually no equivalent to our system of taxation nor to our &quot;entitlement&quot; programs. The analogy to pay for jury duty or religious festivals just doesn&#039;t work because those simply weren&#039;t a reliable source of support for anyone (certainly nothing like unemployment or food stamps). In fact, in the passage I suspect Thornton is referring to (Thucy. 6.24 - though I cannot be sure, as he did not properly cite his sources), Thucydides is certainly critical of the masses for supporting the war in the hope of gain, but he is a little more specific about the nature of that gain: they vote to support this imperialist move because they imagine that the expansion of Athenian rule will provide them with permanent employment, a steady source of income...or as Romney might say, &quot;12 million new jobs.&quot; 
 
So the analogy, if we are going to insist on drawing it (it&#039;s a bad one either way, but a little less bad thus), is a lot more persuasive if we draw it this way: Alcibiades (that&#039;s the reckless demagogue who convinces the Athenians to vote foolishly against their own interest for a jingoist policy that shows just how arrogant they are in their self-congratulatory exceptionalism) would be Mitt Romney, who made the keystone of his platform the arithmetically miraculous creation of jobs while enriching the already rich still more. This is, Thucydides tells us, precisely what motivates Alcibiades&#039; reckless demagoguery: already one of the richest blue-bloods in Athens, he wants to add still more to his wealth and prestige. We might compare the militarily miraculous feat of defeating Sicily, which Alcibiades promises as an inescapable outcome of the expedition to this over-promising to the populace on the basis of nothing more than wishful thinking.  
 
As I said, it is a poor analogy in either case, but it is disingenuous of Thornton to suggest, without even properly citing his sources, that Aristotle or Thucydides or any other ancient thinker would have seen Obama as a greater demagogue than Romney, or the outcome of the election as a victory of demagoguery over good sense akin to the Sicilian expedition. In fact, I suspect that once Aristotle had got over his initial bafflement at all sorts of features of our society (like voting women, or our refusal until recently to allow men who have sex with other men to serve in our military, or government control of intoxicating substances, or the funding of warships and other large military expenses by a general tax rather than mandatory &quot;donations&quot; made by the wealthy few), he likely would judge the most recent election to have been something of an anomaly in an otherwise long history of successful demagoguery (Bush&#039;s wars, e.g., actually provide a much better analogy for the kind of demagoguery at work in the Sicilian expedition): after all, in this case the majority did NOT side with the candidate who offered them &quot;12 million new jobs&quot; and &quot;cheaper gas&quot; and &quot;20% tax cuts across the board,&quot; to name just a few demagogic promises. ]]></description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>&quot;The differences between the political mechanisms of ancient Athens and those of America today do not erase the similarities of mentality and sensibility popular rule creates in its citizens.&quot; </p>
<p>Perhaps not, but those differences do make an analogy between the Athenians&#039; decision to embark on the Sicilian expedition and the re-election of President Obama a particularly faulty one. I suspect you know that, however, and are just engaging in a bit of petty demagoguery of your own. Certainly the rabid comments that have been posted would support such a conclusion. </p>
<p>Here is where the analogy breaks down, folks, since it is clear that most of you haven&#039;t actually read Thucydides: Athens had virtually no equivalent to our system of taxation nor to our &quot;entitlement&quot; programs. The analogy to pay for jury duty or religious festivals just doesn&#039;t work because those simply weren&#039;t a reliable source of support for anyone (certainly nothing like unemployment or food stamps). In fact, in the passage I suspect Thornton is referring to (Thucy. 6.24 &#8211; though I cannot be sure, as he did not properly cite his sources), Thucydides is certainly critical of the masses for supporting the war in the hope of gain, but he is a little more specific about the nature of that gain: they vote to support this imperialist move because they imagine that the expansion of Athenian rule will provide them with permanent employment, a steady source of income&#8230;or as Romney might say, &quot;12 million new jobs.&quot; </p>
<p>So the analogy, if we are going to insist on drawing it (it&#039;s a bad one either way, but a little less bad thus), is a lot more persuasive if we draw it this way: Alcibiades (that&#039;s the reckless demagogue who convinces the Athenians to vote foolishly against their own interest for a jingoist policy that shows just how arrogant they are in their self-congratulatory exceptionalism) would be Mitt Romney, who made the keystone of his platform the arithmetically miraculous creation of jobs while enriching the already rich still more. This is, Thucydides tells us, precisely what motivates Alcibiades&#039; reckless demagoguery: already one of the richest blue-bloods in Athens, he wants to add still more to his wealth and prestige. We might compare the militarily miraculous feat of defeating Sicily, which Alcibiades promises as an inescapable outcome of the expedition to this over-promising to the populace on the basis of nothing more than wishful thinking.  </p>
<p>As I said, it is a poor analogy in either case, but it is disingenuous of Thornton to suggest, without even properly citing his sources, that Aristotle or Thucydides or any other ancient thinker would have seen Obama as a greater demagogue than Romney, or the outcome of the election as a victory of demagoguery over good sense akin to the Sicilian expedition. In fact, I suspect that once Aristotle had got over his initial bafflement at all sorts of features of our society (like voting women, or our refusal until recently to allow men who have sex with other men to serve in our military, or government control of intoxicating substances, or the funding of warships and other large military expenses by a general tax rather than mandatory &quot;donations&quot; made by the wealthy few), he likely would judge the most recent election to have been something of an anomaly in an otherwise long history of successful demagoguery (Bush&#039;s wars, e.g., actually provide a much better analogy for the kind of demagoguery at work in the Sicilian expedition): after all, in this case the majority did NOT side with the candidate who offered them &quot;12 million new jobs&quot; and &quot;cheaper gas&quot; and &quot;20% tax cuts across the board,&quot; to name just a few demagogic promises. </p>
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		<title>By: Guest</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/bruce-thornton/the-democrats-success-and-the-dysfunctions-of-democracy/comment-page-1/#comment-3908808</link>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Guest]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 16 Nov 2012 02:44:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=164756#comment-3908808</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Nor would he stand with a party that stands for letting the poor, the afflicted, and the &quot;fallen&quot; suffer and die because they didn&#039;t have the good sense to be born rich. Maybe that is why he doesn&#039;t stand with any party. ]]></description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Nor would he stand with a party that stands for letting the poor, the afflicted, and the &quot;fallen&quot; suffer and die because they didn&#039;t have the good sense to be born rich. Maybe that is why he doesn&#039;t stand with any party. </p>
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		<title>By: An educator</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/bruce-thornton/the-democrats-success-and-the-dysfunctions-of-democracy/comment-page-1/#comment-3908788</link>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[An educator]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 16 Nov 2012 02:40:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=164756#comment-3908788</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Athens could never have held out against Macedon on its own, so the internal &quot;class warfare&quot; (which, by the way, predated democracy by centuries; democracy actually had a mitigating effect on it, which you would never know from Thornton&#039;s rather sketchy portrayal here) was largely irrelevant to the &quot;fall&quot; of Athens, and a much more important factor was the various city-states&#039; constant conflict with each other and refusal to coalesce into any meaningful or lasting sort of confederation.  
 
Thus I suspect that the reasons you were never taught about this class conflict are twofold: 1) because it wasn&#039;t nearly as important historically as many other facts that you also failed to learn (like the name of Philipp II...or are you just calling him &quot;someone&quot; to be funny?); 2) because of lazy students, not lazy educators. If students were at all interested in anything history professors/teachers have to say, and were not constantly asking whether something is on the next test in order to determine whether it will be forgotten now or in a few weeks, there are all sorts of interesting things we could share with you.  
 
Alas, American Idol takes precedence, so we must forlornly select the few tidbits we judge most important (like &quot;somebody conquered Greece&quot;) and desperately try to drill them into your skulls while class is in session, before they are sponged away by the idiot box. Sadly, many interesting but not quite so critical facts (like &quot;there was class conflict in Athens when its failure to play nice with the dozens of other city-states of nearly every political flavor finally backfired&quot;) are lost in the process. ]]></description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Athens could never have held out against Macedon on its own, so the internal &quot;class warfare&quot; (which, by the way, predated democracy by centuries; democracy actually had a mitigating effect on it, which you would never know from Thornton&#039;s rather sketchy portrayal here) was largely irrelevant to the &quot;fall&quot; of Athens, and a much more important factor was the various city-states&#039; constant conflict with each other and refusal to coalesce into any meaningful or lasting sort of confederation.  </p>
<p>Thus I suspect that the reasons you were never taught about this class conflict are twofold: 1) because it wasn&#039;t nearly as important historically as many other facts that you also failed to learn (like the name of Philipp II&#8230;or are you just calling him &quot;someone&quot; to be funny?); 2) because of lazy students, not lazy educators. If students were at all interested in anything history professors/teachers have to say, and were not constantly asking whether something is on the next test in order to determine whether it will be forgotten now or in a few weeks, there are all sorts of interesting things we could share with you.  </p>
<p>Alas, American Idol takes precedence, so we must forlornly select the few tidbits we judge most important (like &quot;somebody conquered Greece&quot;) and desperately try to drill them into your skulls while class is in session, before they are sponged away by the idiot box. Sadly, many interesting but not quite so critical facts (like &quot;there was class conflict in Athens when its failure to play nice with the dozens of other city-states of nearly every political flavor finally backfired&quot;) are lost in the process. </p>
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		<title>By: Mary Sue</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/bruce-thornton/the-democrats-success-and-the-dysfunctions-of-democracy/comment-page-1/#comment-3900729</link>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Mary Sue]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 14 Nov 2012 23:39:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=164756#comment-3900729</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Caesar didn&#039;t have Obamacare. ]]></description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Caesar didn&#039;t have Obamacare. </p>
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		<title>By: Mary Sue</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/bruce-thornton/the-democrats-success-and-the-dysfunctions-of-democracy/comment-page-1/#comment-3900726</link>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Mary Sue]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 14 Nov 2012 23:38:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=164756#comment-3900726</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Limbaugh et al can only alienate poeple that never would have voted Republican in the first place. ]]></description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Limbaugh et al can only alienate poeple that never would have voted Republican in the first place. </p>
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		<title>By: Mary Sue</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/bruce-thornton/the-democrats-success-and-the-dysfunctions-of-democracy/comment-page-1/#comment-3900722</link>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Mary Sue]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 14 Nov 2012 23:37:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=164756#comment-3900722</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Maybe the GOP should imitate Stephen Harper.  That is so far from Failed it&#039;s not even funny.  And we&#039;re doing much better than you!  We also didn&#039;t have that stupid crazy loan money to people to buy a house that can&#039;t pay it back thing. ]]></description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Maybe the GOP should imitate Stephen Harper.  That is so far from Failed it&#039;s not even funny.  And we&#039;re doing much better than you!  We also didn&#039;t have that stupid crazy loan money to people to buy a house that can&#039;t pay it back thing. </p>
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		<title>By: Mary Sue</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/bruce-thornton/the-democrats-success-and-the-dysfunctions-of-democracy/comment-page-1/#comment-3900714</link>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Mary Sue]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 14 Nov 2012 23:36:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=164756#comment-3900714</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[except all the polls had romney leading with Independents. ]]></description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>except all the polls had romney leading with Independents. </p>
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		<title>By: Mary Sue</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/bruce-thornton/the-democrats-success-and-the-dysfunctions-of-democracy/comment-page-1/#comment-3900700</link>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Mary Sue]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 14 Nov 2012 23:33:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=164756#comment-3900700</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Yeah, my grandparents had the book and gave it to my mom.  The kids in my class (and I didn&#039;t mention the book at all, I just objected to the entire idea of choosing who to put out of a nuclear shelter--it&#039;s like no, just put EVERYBODY in, stretch the food a bit more) couldn&#039;t comprehend why I was making such a big deal about it.   ]]></description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Yeah, my grandparents had the book and gave it to my mom.  The kids in my class (and I didn&#039;t mention the book at all, I just objected to the entire idea of choosing who to put out of a nuclear shelter&#8211;it&#039;s like no, just put EVERYBODY in, stretch the food a bit more) couldn&#039;t comprehend why I was making such a big deal about it.   </p>
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		<title>By: Marvin Fox</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/bruce-thornton/the-democrats-success-and-the-dysfunctions-of-democracy/comment-page-1/#comment-3894647</link>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Marvin Fox]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 14 Nov 2012 01:54:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=164756#comment-3894647</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If I hear one of the great thinkers with a workable solution instead of a scholarly detailed but useless analysis I will stand and salute. 
Incidentally, ancient Athens was not a democracy. The Republic of the United States is not a democracy. Wikipedia has a list of democracies; the only type of government missing from it, the last time I looked, was a nation calling itself a &quot;democracy!&quot; Democracy always props itself against another form of government. 
The modern conception of democracy is its only principle , majority rule! I dare all comers to find a nation that is or has used the majority rule of its citizens to govern that nation. 
The definition of our Republic is its Constitution; all other definitions are false or incomplete. 
Redefining our Republic as our democracy is false, and becoming more ridiculous by the minute. 
Marvin Fox  
  ]]></description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>If I hear one of the great thinkers with a workable solution instead of a scholarly detailed but useless analysis I will stand and salute.<br />
Incidentally, ancient Athens was not a democracy. The Republic of the United States is not a democracy. Wikipedia has a list of democracies; the only type of government missing from it, the last time I looked, was a nation calling itself a &quot;democracy!&quot; Democracy always props itself against another form of government.<br />
The modern conception of democracy is its only principle , majority rule! I dare all comers to find a nation that is or has used the majority rule of its citizens to govern that nation.<br />
The definition of our Republic is its Constitution; all other definitions are false or incomplete.<br />
Redefining our Republic as our democracy is false, and becoming more ridiculous by the minute.<br />
Marvin Fox  </p>
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		<title>By: Candidus</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/bruce-thornton/the-democrats-success-and-the-dysfunctions-of-democracy/comment-page-1/#comment-3894062</link>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Candidus]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 14 Nov 2012 00:09:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=164756#comment-3894062</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Brilliant, brilliant article. One of the finest I have ever read at FPM and that&#039;s saying something. 
Kudos to Mr. Thornton. ]]></description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Brilliant, brilliant article. One of the finest I have ever read at FPM and that&#039;s saying something.<br />
Kudos to Mr. Thornton. </p>
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		<title>By: katy</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/bruce-thornton/the-democrats-success-and-the-dysfunctions-of-democracy/comment-page-1/#comment-3894055</link>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[katy]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 14 Nov 2012 00:07:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=164756#comment-3894055</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[absolutely correct! and some of them become educators and gues what they teach?! ]]></description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>absolutely correct! and some of them become educators and gues what they teach?! </p>
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		<title>By: katy</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/bruce-thornton/the-democrats-success-and-the-dysfunctions-of-democracy/comment-page-1/#comment-3893977</link>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[katy]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 13 Nov 2012 23:51:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=164756#comment-3893977</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[wow - that is awesome that you read &quot;Change Agents&quot; at a young age. interesting story. if all children were as informed as you, we wouldn&#039;t be experiencing a 2nd term Obama. ]]></description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>wow &#8211; that is awesome that you read &quot;Change Agents&quot; at a young age. interesting story. if all children were as informed as you, we wouldn&#039;t be experiencing a 2nd term Obama. </p>
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		<title>By: katy</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/bruce-thornton/the-democrats-success-and-the-dysfunctions-of-democracy/comment-page-1/#comment-3893955</link>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[katy]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 13 Nov 2012 23:48:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=164756#comment-3893955</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[not lazy, ignorant. the entire education has been dumbed down, including those who teach, for generations.  
read &quot;the deliberate dumbing down of america&quot; by Charlotte Iserbyt. The revision/deletion of true history is intentional. the less info a society has, the easier to propagandize. ]]></description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>not lazy, ignorant. the entire education has been dumbed down, including those who teach, for generations.<br />
read &quot;the deliberate dumbing down of america&quot; by Charlotte Iserbyt. The revision/deletion of true history is intentional. the less info a society has, the easier to propagandize. </p>
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		<title>By: clarespark</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/bruce-thornton/the-democrats-success-and-the-dysfunctions-of-democracy/comment-page-1/#comment-3892712</link>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[clarespark]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 13 Nov 2012 19:31:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=164756#comment-3892712</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Conservatives and superpatriots should search their own souls before condemning Romney. See &lt;a href=&quot;http://clarespark.com/2012/11/13/orwell-superpatriots-and-the-election/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://clarespark.com/2012/11/13/orwell-superpatr...&lt;/a&gt;. “Orwell, superpatriots, and the election.” ]]></description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Conservatives and superpatriots should search their own souls before condemning Romney. See <a href="http://clarespark.com/2012/11/13/orwell-superpatriots-and-the-election/" rel="nofollow"></a><a href="http://clarespark.com/2012/11/13/orwell-superpatr" rel="nofollow">http://clarespark.com/2012/11/13/orwell-superpatr</a>&#8230;. “Orwell, superpatriots, and the election.” </p>
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		<title>By: Tony</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/bruce-thornton/the-democrats-success-and-the-dysfunctions-of-democracy/comment-page-1/#comment-3891471</link>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Tony]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 13 Nov 2012 15:48:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=164756#comment-3891471</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[God would never stand with a party that stands for homosexual marriage and killing innocent babies.  Not the Christian God.]]></description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>God would never stand with a party that stands for homosexual marriage and killing innocent babies.  Not the Christian God.</p>
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		<title>By: Michael Schneider</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/bruce-thornton/the-democrats-success-and-the-dysfunctions-of-democracy/comment-page-1/#comment-3889838</link>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Michael Schneider]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 13 Nov 2012 10:59:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=164756#comment-3889838</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Re the &#039;free stuff&#039; system, the best use of it I&#039;ve seen is Shakespeare&#039;s Marc Antony&#039;s speech, &quot;Friends, Romans countrymen........&quot; 
He tells the rabble after Caesar was assassinated that he intended to leave his wealth to the common people. 
A great ploy to gain the peoples love for Caesar and incur the hatred of the populous against the assassins without having to actually do anything for it.  ]]></description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Re the &#039;free stuff&#039; system, the best use of it I&#039;ve seen is Shakespeare&#039;s Marc Antony&#039;s speech, &quot;Friends, Romans countrymen&#8230;&#8230;..&quot;<br />
He tells the rabble after Caesar was assassinated that he intended to leave his wealth to the common people.<br />
A great ploy to gain the peoples love for Caesar and incur the hatred of the populous against the assassins without having to actually do anything for it.  </p>
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		<title>By: cobrastriesand1</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/bruce-thornton/the-democrats-success-and-the-dysfunctions-of-democracy/comment-page-1/#comment-3887502</link>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[cobrastriesand1]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 13 Nov 2012 04:35:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=164756#comment-3887502</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Absolutely brilliant! These lines from the 4th paragraph, &quot;Today, violent revolution is unlikely, not least because it is unnecessary. The expansionary federal government and its hoards of bureaucratic minions have replaced the ruthless tyrants of antiquity, [. . .]&quot;, hit the nail right on the head.  
Now that we&#039;ve been able to replace the American Worker/Union-Gangster, with laborers from China who would never if they lived to be a thousand, be able to use OUR government to expropriate OUR income through taxes, we are left with an utterly useless service/welfare sector which lives like royalty, because their very presence in our nation amounts to a form of hostage taking - keep the welfare/entitlement spigots flowing or they will take to the streets and start burning cars to get what they want from us. As long socialists like Barak Obama and Michael Bloomberg are able to keep this mob of useless eaters under control and in the voting booth we&#039;ll always live in fear.  
 I live in New York, and every day I have to watch this  digesting spectacle of taxpayer(1%) subsidized public housing situated for some reason on some of the most expensive land on earth, having its power and water fixed by union scum making upwards of $50 an hour, all on the dime of 1% tax payers who have to live fear of looting we can&#039;t turn their lights back on for them or if the army doesn&#039;t come in and physically hand-deliver food to these losers. How much longer are we going to put up with this!? ]]></description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Absolutely brilliant! These lines from the 4th paragraph, &quot;Today, violent revolution is unlikely, not least because it is unnecessary. The expansionary federal government and its hoards of bureaucratic minions have replaced the ruthless tyrants of antiquity, [. . .]&quot;, hit the nail right on the head.<br />
Now that we&#039;ve been able to replace the American Worker/Union-Gangster, with laborers from China who would never if they lived to be a thousand, be able to use OUR government to expropriate OUR income through taxes, we are left with an utterly useless service/welfare sector which lives like royalty, because their very presence in our nation amounts to a form of hostage taking &#8211; keep the welfare/entitlement spigots flowing or they will take to the streets and start burning cars to get what they want from us. As long socialists like Barak Obama and Michael Bloomberg are able to keep this mob of useless eaters under control and in the voting booth we&#039;ll always live in fear.<br />
 I live in New York, and every day I have to watch this  digesting spectacle of taxpayer(1%) subsidized public housing situated for some reason on some of the most expensive land on earth, having its power and water fixed by union scum making upwards of $50 an hour, all on the dime of 1% tax payers who have to live fear of looting we can&#039;t turn their lights back on for them or if the army doesn&#039;t come in and physically hand-deliver food to these losers. How much longer are we going to put up with this!? </p>
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		<title>By: trickyblain</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/bruce-thornton/the-democrats-success-and-the-dysfunctions-of-democracy/comment-page-1/#comment-3887247</link>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[trickyblain]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 13 Nov 2012 03:51:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=164756#comment-3887247</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Socrates/Plato. 
 
But if Romney were elected, he&#039;d solve everything. ]]></description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Socrates/Plato. </p>
<p>But if Romney were elected, he&#039;d solve everything. </p>
]]></content:encoded>
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