Evil political systems (?)

**bachelor tom** · 18th-June-2007

Fascism and National Socialism (Naziism) are taboo subjects of discussion these days, so I thought I would throw out some political terms for discussion:

Monarchy: "rule by one person," c.1390, from O.Fr. monarchie, from L.L. monarchia, from Gk. monarkhia "absolute rule," lit. "ruling of one," from monos "alone" (see mono-) + arkhein "to rule." Meaning "a state ruled by monarchical government" is from c.1430; monarch is from c.1450; monarchist first attested 1647.

Autocracy: 1803, from Fr. autocrate, from Gk. autokrates "ruling by oneself," from autos- "self" (comb. form) + kratia "rule," from kratos "strength, power" (see -cracy). First used by Robert Southey, with reference to Napoleon. An earlier form was autocrator (1789), used in ref. to the Russian Czars. Earliest form in Eng. is the fem. autocratress (1762). Autocracy dates from 1655 in the meaning "self-sustained power;" as "absolute government" it is attested from 1855.

Oligarchy: 1577, from M.Fr. oligarchie (14c.), from Gk. oligarkhia "government by the few," from oligoi "few, small, little" (of unknown origin) + arkhein "to rule."

Aristocracy: 1561, from L.L. aristocratia, from Gk. aristokratia "government, rule of the best," from aristos "best" (originally "most fitting," from PIE *ar-isto-, superlative form of *ar- "to fit together") + kratos "rule, power" (see -cracy). At first in a literal sense; meaning "rule by a privileged class (best-born or best-favored by fortune)" is from 1577 and became paramount 17c. Hence, the meaning "patrician order" (1651); and aristocratic "grand, stylish" (1845). In early use contrasted with monarchy; after Fr. and Amer. revolutions, with democracy. Aristocrat first recorded 1789, from Fr. aristocrate.

Plutocracy: 1652, from Gk. ploutokratia "rule or power of the wealthy or of wealth," from ploutos "wealth" (see Pluto) + -kratia "rule," from kratos "rule, power." Plutocrat is 1850.

Tyranny: 1297, "absolute ruler," from O.Fr. tyrant (12c.), from L. tyrannus "lord, master, tyrant" (cf. Sp. tirano, It. tiranno), from Gk. tyrannos "lord, master, sovereign, absolute ruler," a loan-word from a language of Asia Minor (probably Lydian); cf. Etruscan Turan "mistress, lady" (surname of Venus).
"In the exact sense, a tyrant is an individual who arrogates to himself the royal authority without having a right to it. This is how the Greeks understood the word 'tyrant': they applied it indifferently to good and bad princes whose authority was not legitimate." [Rousseau, "The Social Contract"]

Dictatorship: Sense of "command" is 1621. The noun is from 1594. A dictator (1387) was a judge in the Roman republic temporarily invested with absolute power.

Emperor: c.1225, from O.Fr. empereor (acc.), from L. imperiatorem (nom. imperiator) "commander, emperor," from stem of imperare "to command" (see empire). Originally a title conferred by vote of the Roman army on a successful general, later by the Senate on Julius and Augustus Caesar and adopted by their successors except Tiberius and Claudius. In the Middle Ages, applied to rulers of China, Japan, etc.; only non-historical European application in Eng. was of the Holy Roman Emperors (who in Ger. documents are called kaiser), from 1297, until in 1804 Napoleon took the title "Emperor of the French." Empress is attested from 1154; Queen Victoria in 1876 became "Empress of India."

Totalitarian: 1926, first in ref. to Italian fascism, formed in Eng. on model of It. totalitario "complete, absolute, totalitarian," from the It. cognate of Eng. total (q.v.). The noun is recorded from 1938.

Fascist: 1921, from It. partito nazionale fascista, the anti-communist political movement organized 1919 under Benito Mussolini (1883-1945); from It. fascio "group, association," lit. "bundle." Fasci "groups of men organized for political purposes" had been a feature of Sicily since c.1895; the 20c. sense probably infl. by the Roman fasces (q.v.) which became the party symbol. Fascism, also 1921, was originally used in Eng. 1920 in its It. form, fascismo. Applied to similar groups in Germany from 1923.
"A form of political behavior marked by obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation or victimhood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy and purity, in which a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites, abandons democratic liberties and pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing and external expansion." [Robert O. Paxton, "The Anatomy of Fascism," 2004]

Nazi: 1930, from Ger. Nazi, abbreviation of Ger. pronunciation of Nationalsozialist (based on earlier Ger. sozi, popular abbreviaton of "socialist"), from Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei "National Socialist German Workers' Party," led by Hitler from 1920. The 24th edition of Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache (2002) says the word Nazi was favored in southern Germany (supposedly from c.1924) among opponents of National Socialism because the nickname Nazi (from the masc. proper name Ignatz, Ger. form of Ignatius) was used colloquially to mean "a foolish person, clumsy or awkward person." Ignatz was a popular name in Catholic Austria, and according to one source in WWI Nazi was a generic name in the German Empire for the soldiers of Austria-Hungary. An older use of Nazi for national-sozial is attested in Ger. from 1903, but EWdS does not think it contributed to the word as applied to Hitler and his followers. The NSDAP for a time attempted to adopt the Nazi designation as what the Germans call a "despite-word," but they gave this up, and the NSDAP is said to have generally avoided the term. Before 1930, party members had been called in Eng. National Socialists, which dates from 1923. The use of Nazi Germany, Nazi regime, etc., was popularized by German exiles abroad. From them, it spread into other languages, and eventually brought back to Germany, after the war. In the USSR, the terms national socialist and Nazi were said to have been forbidden after 1932, presumably to avoid any taint to the good word socialist. Soviet literature refers to fascists.

English etymologies from The Online Etymology Dictionary http://www.etymonline.com/index.php

Question: Are such political systems ‘patriarchy gone mad’, ie exaggerations of typically male styles of governance?

**dad_savage** · 19th-June-2007

Question: Are such political systems ‘patriarchy gone mad’, ie exaggerations of typically male styles of governance?

Well, in reality democracy is not a typical style of Government and these forms of Government you list generally are. For most of human history, in most countries, state power was concentrated in the hands of a small few; kings, nobles, councils, emperors, etc. this makes democracy the exception. You should be asking is democracy, along with other liberal forms of government 'Patriarchy gone soft,'

**bola** · 19th-June-2007

All political systems, democracy included, are manifestations of the one and only true political system: kleptocracy.

Even a democracy isn't really governed by the masses. We are ruled by a pedagogical elite. Politicians, educators, spiritual and intellectual leaders, business tycoons, journalists etc, form a loosely connected upper class that sets the agenda for the way the country is run. They control the information and resources.

The only real advantage that democracy has over other systems is that it gives individuals the best possible protection against tyranny. The fact that we are openly criticizing the feminists and their supporters (in spite of the fact that they are much more powerful than we are) proves that our democracies are still functioning. The question is for how long?

Let's look at the feminist agenda:
- impose gun control
- impose man tax/ bachelor tax
- abolish prostitution and pornography
- ban violence in games and movies
- ban dangerous sports
- ban the eating of meat (or make it very expensive)
- ban alcohol and tobacco (or make it very expensive)
- construe anti-feminism as hate crime
- store all (male) dna in database
- reverse burden of proof
- put quotas on every domain where men excel
- forbid men to be with minors without supervision
- impose mandatory psychological evaluation (early warning)
- impose mandatory circumcision
- impose mandatory chemical castration of (potential) sex offenders
- ban marriage to foreign women

Most of these things I've heard being proposed at some time or other.

All of it will be presented to us under the guise of protecting the weak or compensating for wrongs done in the past.

**bachelor tom** · 19th-June-2007

Good points both of you, thanks

I think it should be obvious that these titles can equally be held by women, and many here would agree that female monarchs empresses presidents etc are no better morally or intellectually at leadership, despite the claims of feminists.

In fact I would argue that women nowadays display the most despotic tyrannical behaviour at all levels of society, from abusing children to coercing countries to adopt UN sanctioned feminist programmes. The popular epithet 'feminazi' attests the perception of inflexibility and harshness in second wave gender feminism.

And of course it is quite acceptable to discuss socialism as a model of state intervention, this is the politically correct attitude. Paternalistic intervention is evil obviously