No. It must be slow and subtle to keep the addled masses from noticing...

"Principled understanding is not learned from "stories""

I'm not sure where you think learning comes from then. Books and the written language are for the primary purpose of propagating the stories and learning of others. The vast majority of everything learned came not from you, but from others. Good grief, why did Rand write Atlas Shrugged if not to give us the opportunity to read it and study it? Is it not a story? Yes, it is.

Failure teaches us to reevaluate our hypotheses (Thomas Edison discovered hundreds of ways not to build a lightbulb). Death teaches us how beautiful and valuable life is (communism wouldn't be such a crime if it weren't responsible for mass murder). Sickness teaches us the value of good health (Pasteur researched vaccines to combat smallpox). The pains, travails, and difficulties of others can either be instructive to us or not, depending on whether or not we choose to learn from them. What is the phrase so applicable here? "Those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it."


"If you don't want to "wish it on others" then don't write "All I can say is that I honestly would love to see it happen on such a grand scale just so we could watch the collapse.""

I wrote that tongue in cheek, but unfortunately it's hard to project that via the medium of a forum.

It was the center of commerce, finance, publishing and a lot more, with a sense of life and bustling continuous activity supporting it. NYC was at one time a magnificent achievement. But that doesn't mean you should personally prefer to live in a city; her husband would have preferred to stay on the ranch in California.

Principled understanding is not learned from "stories" and does not suddenly spring out of "trajedy". Seeing that something is wrong does not tell anyone what is right.

If you don't want to "wish it on others" then don't write "All I can say is that I honestly would love to see it happen on such a grand scale just so we could watch the collapse."

I don't know that much about HOAs. If you move into an area where they have one, and if you own the land you're on, can you just ignore their rules as long as you don't join up? Or does the HOA have some legal power over the neighborhood just by being there?

No, it doesn't. Collectivist failure all over the world has not stopped the consequences of the bad premises continuing to spread and be repeated. If better ideas based on reason and individualism are not formulated, spread, and learned there is nothing for anyone to be "open to", and without understanding they reject them when they are encountered out of fear and from the confusion caused by the inconsistency in the swamp of mixed premises.

I have wondered why Ayn Rand thought that New
York was so great a city. Maybe because, from what I hear and have read, you don't need a car very much to get around.

People only learn what they want to - be it correct principles or not. And they have two sources for that learning: themselves or the stories of others.

Many people simply refuse to invest in the study of others' actions and the consequent repercussions. They insist on experiencing those things for themselves because they want to believe that somehow they are special: that they are different from everyone else to such a degree that the laws of nature do not apply to them. This applies to everyone to some degree but progressives make this self-exception into a policy. As such, only the blunt 2x4 of reality has the force necessary to jar from them the rose-colored glasses they strap to their faces all the while proclaiming that they have the most open of minds.

Of course I don't wish ill on others. But tragedy is often the only opportunity under which a truly open approach to life may be instigated in many people. And I would rather give them the chance to change their ways through tragedy than see them condemned by their own rebelliousness and ignorance.

I suppose that is true, but total societal failure does tend to open peoples' minds to new ideas such as capitalism and freedom.

People learn by understanding the proper principles, not be staring at either history or a recent collapse. There are a lot of good people in New York who would be badly hurt by the pointless collapse you would love to watch.

I wonder about that really. a LOT of people have brainwashed themselves into thinking THAT would actually be utopia. Look at the explosion of people just "giving" to the homeless people who are obviously in that position just to get freebies. "Stronger Together", Medicare for everyone, "The best in people is self sacrifice".

Socialist failure does not lead to recovery. Following the same collectivist-altruist premises leads to endless variations of the failure. Collapse of society is not the method to recover the country.

"People should just stop moving and living in NYC. "
If they set up a "very, very powerful government, including a federal government, involved in directly addressing their day-to-day reality," they may get that result.

I think if only people who "would love to have a very, very powerful gov't" involved in their daily lives moved someplace, it would be almost empty.

The absolute immorality of it all.
If a condo is something you desire; Is not a $2M condo something to aspire to? It should create a pull, a drive to do one's best. Wonderful things are to be desired, to be worked for. The comforts and delights of the world should be a reward for furthering the abilities of your fellow man, a golden stone on the pathway of life.
How have the desirable fruits of one's great labor and effort been twisted into a reason for contempt and reason for their demise?
Truly; how on this earth have we allowed that to happen?

DeBlasio is dumb as a box of rocks. People who can afford $2,000,000. condo's can live anywhere and take their tax base with them - and they will. The Bernie people will vote for him then crab like hell when their quality of life falls to the lowest common denominator - and it will. This is exactly why we have an electoral college. The Forgotten People had their say last election and will do it again.

That is why there is a 2nd Amendment. There comes a time when you HAVE to fight and knocking on YOUR front door is the best reason to use your 2nd Amendment right.

DeBlasio is paper shoes. During WW2 the shortage of leather created shoes that were made out of paper. They looked like leather, they felt like leather, but unlike leather they fell apart in a couple of months. You get what you pay for. In the case of the mayor you got a cheap socialist politition..

So, he wants NYC to be like it's depicted in the movie "Escape From New York"?

This s glimpse of what proponents of the UN Agenda 21 think. Government ownership of all properties, with the population clustered in a few massive supercities. The idea is to allow the rest of the land to return to its natural state.

The concept claims to provide the most services to the people in the most efficient manner possible. However, humans did not evolve in these conditions, and the rat warren conditions instill a degree of hostility. Pandemics go through densely packed populations like wildfire. Absolute dedication to system maintenance is necessary, or the whole place quickly becomes a sewer. Natural disasters result in massive casualties compared to a population spread over more territory.

The sensible solution is to spread the U.S. population over more territory, not less. Take advantage of distributed power, telecommuting, online shopping, remote delivery, online education. Smaller communities are more friendly and personal.

You make this sound as it's something either new or unusual...

Zoning laws. Hell, ALL governments enjoy and exploit this control over it's "citizens"... And if this wasn't bad enough... Go ANYWHERE there is a HOA, and try to paint YOUR property an unapproved color, or build a fence of an unapproved material... your "benevolent" HOA board (frequently self-appointed) will be happy to fine you for daring to challenge their socialist order... all for the good of the neighbors and neighborhood, natch!

That's why I'll never live in a place where HOA's and CCR's are the law of the land. Sadly, most new homes have a self appointed board of control to tell you how to live your life that you are REQUIRED to pay into, that can fine you when you fall afoul of the latest social constraints on your property...

If I were to go to, say, Portland, Oregon (it could just as well be Boise, Idaho or Dubuque, Iowa), to a historically residential neighborhood, buy up a few lots, and knock down the old Victorians with the intent on putting up a coal burning artisan steel mill... Residential Zoning? I'll show them - I'll ignore it. Ha ha ha...

the residents of new York city have since its inception, I recommend reading "island at the center of the world" by a guy named "shorto" a history of the nyc area since 1515 or so when the dutch settled there. the residents never cared whose government they lived under just so long as the could conduct business. the book is incredibly interesting since I grew up there. they have never changed their attitude so even if they are ruled by commies (they are basically socialists now) they do not care. also consider that the bulk of the population today comes from all over the world so they are no free so they don't give a damn again so long as they can make money.

People should just stop moving and living in NYC. THAT would reduce rents for sure.

I have two words for these socialists F&k Y&u

de Blasio has never held a private sector job.

I wish it would just be faster, so that we can start recovery. Why wants to live in a declining society.