<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div>On Jun 29, 2017, at 8:45 AM, John Clark <<a href="mailto:johnkclark@gmail.com">johnkclark@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</div><div><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif">On Thu, Jun 29, 2017 at 11:04 AM, Dan TheBookMan </span><span dir="ltr" style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><<a href="mailto:danust2012@gmail.com" target="_blank">danust2012@gmail.com</a>></span><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"> wrote:</span><br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><br></div><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto"><span class="gmail-"><div style="font-size:large;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">>> </div>Doesn't it bother you that the most powerful man in the world is an idiot?</blockquote><span style="font-size:large"> <br></span></div></span><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">> </div>Doesn't it bother that there should be a most powerful person in the world?</div></blockquote><div><br></div><div><div class="gmail_default"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"></font><font size="4">Certainly not! People have power. There are a finite number of people in the world. Therefore I logically conclude one of them must be the most powerful or is in a tie for being the most powerful. </font></div></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Political power simply shouldn't exist. But fair enough. But do you think there should be anyone with such overwhelming power? This isn't like the president simply has a tiny bit more power than you or me. Instead, she or he can order the death of millions. Such power is dangerous... </div><br><blockquote type="cite"><div><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><div><div class="gmail_default"><font size="4">And I think it would be rather nice if that most powerful person wasn't a anti-intellectual scientific nincompoop who is unable to tell the truth.</font></div></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div>... and it's foolish to believe that such concentrated power existing in the first place will be unlikely to attract the wrong people -- whether the wrong people are themselves fools or, maybe worse, crafty sociopaths. <br><div><br></div><br><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto"><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">> </div>I believe Dave is against the US elite projecting force</div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline"><font size="4">Fine, but I can find little evidence that </font></div><font size="4">the US elite<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">'s desire </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">to </div>project <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">its </div>force<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline"> is going away, and even less evidence that Donald Trump wants it to. </div></font></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div>The elite's desire will not likely go away, but can't each of us at least try to undermine the means?<div> <blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto"><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">> </div>Aircraft carriers in particular are really just big floating offensive weapons used to keep imperial subjects in line.</div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline"></div><font size="4">Maybe so, but if you want to keep<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline"> </div>imperial subjects in line big floating offensive weapons <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">seems</div> to be the way to do it.<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline"> </div></font></div></div></div></div></blockquote><br></div><div>Why would _you_ want imperial subjects kept in line? You want to live under a well-oiled authoritarian regime?</div><div><br></div><div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><div style="line-height: normal;"><div style="line-height: normal;"><span style="line-height: 20px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Regards,</span></div><div style="line-height: normal;"><span style="line-height: 20px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><div style="line-height: normal;"><span style="line-height: 20px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Dan</span></div><div style="line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> Sample my Kindle books via:</span></div><div style="line-height: normal;"><font color="#000000" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a href="http://author.to/DanUst" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">http://author.to/DanUst</a></font></div></div></div><div><div style="line-height: normal;"></div></div></div></div></body></html>