[Politics] It's back! The State Formed By Force

[rustycoon]

Earlier, I discussed the formation of the state by social contract. Perhaps the greatest weakness to social contract theory is that no such state exists as was created by those means. In fact all states exist by the same means - the aggregation of force in the body of officials that govern them. Force, in this sense, shall be taken to mean the

Comments

[triss]

I think I'd have to argue that the problem we have with Iran is not that it's a _theocracy_, per se, but that the religion in question has values we disagree with.

Or, rather, that's the distinction I'd make. Others may simply argue Theocracy Bad.

[wanderingbhikkh]

Welcome home, Senator. Should I add you to my China update email list?

[wanderingbhikkh]

Heck, we're tending towards theocracy and everyone's okay with that, right?

Well, Christians are. And the rest, by definition, don't matter.

It seems that the solution is to drum up support for reasoned arguement and logical action.* The question is, how do we do that?

Also, you have just supported incest, provided the sex is safe.

*I propose college cheers. "REASONED ARGUEMENT, YEAH YEAH YEAH, LOGICAL ACTION, FART!"

[rustycoon]

I have not supported incest at all. I have, however, said that if people engage in it, it's not the end of the world, provided they aren't actually inbreeding.

The principle reason sexual relations with one's own family are taboo is the end product of such couplings. It's a genetic problem that has been recognized by evolutionary progress, and social constraints against it have been put into place by years and years of tradition - tradition that works, I might add.

This does not change the principal motivation behind the prohibition of incest.

Neither does pointing the fact out mean I condone the behavior. It just is.

[maniakes]

Israel is not a theocratic state in the sense that Iran is. Israel is a constitutional republic nation-state where the national identity is closely associated with a religion, while Iran's government is run primarily by religious officials acting in their capacity as religions officials.

But your central point holds. What makes Iran bad is not that their leaders are chosen based on their position in the church heirarchy, but rather that they use their position to use force to impose strict adherence to what they see as the tenants of the religion, and that they have used their position to support attacks on us and our allies.

*tangent*

[tegeuscromis]

have you had a chance to get into any of the new Mechwarrior stuff? or read Stackpole's defense of the new material?

just wondering what you thought about it.

Re: *tangent*

[rustycoon]

I read Stackpole's defense of the new material, but I've not read any of it. The rules for it were a turn-off enough. While simpler and easier and faster, they lose a lot of the rich combined arms complexity and depth that made Battletech my favorite strategy/tactical sim.

The storyline stuff is probably as good as it always has been, FASA's strength has always been in storyline writing, and Stackpole's contributions basically gaurantee Teh Win. But I need more out of my games than just good writing, I need the ability to easily (as in, pre-built rules to handle it) integrate the story components that I want.

In battletech that means wanting to have the freedom and ability to handle any possibly scenario my players may wish to explore within the military genre. Systems that oversimplify combined arms are great for younger gamers, or those not terribly focused on the strategic depth. I, however, do not fit into that set.

Re: *tangent*

[tegeuscromis]

ahh yes, the infamous "can I direct fire my Artillery?" question.

hmmm...it'd be nice if they published a conversion book new stuff->old system.

Re: *tangent*

[rustycoon]

They went one better. FanPro is publishing all of the new material in the old system, just on a delayed schedule so that WizKids can still cash in.