tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3124283.post271147834578726770..comments2023-10-23T11:58:43.116-05:00Comments on Rhetoric & Rockets: Barthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01956864183240824354noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3124283.post-16135239400296264022009-05-26T02:01:51.262-05:002009-05-26T02:01:51.262-05:00Bart, thanks so much for your review of Alongside ...Bart, thanks so much for your review of Alongside Night. <br /><br />To reply on your main point: <br /><br />You wrote that the Cadre "accept top-down rule like a bunch of Marxist guerrillas." <br /><br />This author disagrees. <br /><br />The tension between the rights of the Cadre's clients and the Cadre's security methods is a feature of the novel. Dr. Vreeland himself compares the Cadre to a government, and Lorimer has a run-in with Cadre guards. <br /><br />But note that the Cadre do not hide behind sovereign immunity and submit disputes to binding arbitration ... and at the end of the novel they decline to rule. <br /><br />No revolution is perfect and the perfect is the enemy of the good.J. Neil Schulmanhttp://www.alongsidenight.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3124283.post-24908377978300463502009-05-23T01:44:04.367-05:002009-05-23T01:44:04.367-05:00I agree that the Revolutionary Agorist Cadre descr...I agree that the Revolutionary Agorist Cadre described in Neil's book has some top-down features. I especially don't like the idea of going into any place where I'm not allowed to be armed. Anyone who doesn't trust me with guns isn't a friend of freedom.<br /><br />Of course, Neil was describing a New York based cadre and underground center. New Yorkers are weird. They've lived with their idiotic Sullivan law for almost a century. I think he was striving for some realism.<br /><br />There are actually several instances of hyperinflation of fiat money that did not end in dictatorship. You might want to research the topic more. Consider the Continental currency, for example.<br /><br />The question is not whether we are going to have economic calamity, increased socialism, a diabolical authoritarian government, and a fight for freedom. We have those things now, and we can be certain that they'll continue and get worse.<br /><br />The only question for me is: given that we need to organise to oppose the authoritarian government, withdraw support from it, and make plans to rescue our friends from death camps, do you want to be a part of that effort? If so, click on over to alongsidenight.ar.to<br /><br />If not, then what do you suppose is going to happen?PlanetaryJimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17923609779857194493noreply@blogger.com