Ep48 – Is Democracy the Opiate of the Masses? with Myron Weber

Mentally Unscripted

In today's episode, Myron Weber from Mental Supermodels joins us a fascinating discussion on whether democracy is, to borrow a phrase from Marx, "the opiate of the masses," that's dulling our awareness that the United States is becoming less constitutional, less federal, and less republican. And by republican, we mean the form of government, not the political party.

We had a great discussion that will give you a lot to think about regarding democracy and the direction in which the U.S. is heading.

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And remember, the conclusion you reach is less important than the process you follow to get there.

About Myron

Myron Weber leads the Northwood Advisors team to design and deliver high ROI solutions to business needs:

* Solving complex business data problems in operations, sales, and marketing.

* BI and Data Warehouse design and development.

* Building custom applications to fill gaps not covered by enterprise systems.

Connect with Myron on LinkedIn or learn more at www.NorthwoodAdvisors.com

You can also listen to Myron on Mental Supermodels. He and his co-host, Jeremy, explore the theory and practice, the art and science of mental modeling for problem-solving and decision making in business and life.

You can listen to Mental Supermodels on all major podcast platforms.

Resources

* Winston Churchill preposition quote (as Myron mentioned, this quote is disputed but it’s still good)

* What Does ‘Constitutional Interpretation’ Mean, Anyway?, by Scott Grayson

* Popular Sovereignty, Judicial Supremacy, and the American Revolution: Why the Judiciary Cannot be the Final Arbiter of Constitutions, by William J. Watkins, Jr.

* The Myth of the Rule of Law, by John Hasnas

* Aristotle’s Philosophy of Government

* Aristotle: Politics

* Aristotle’s Idea of A Good State

* Aristotle on Democracy and Government

* Classification of Government According to Aristotle

* The Brion McClanahan Show

* Democracy, the God that Failed, by Hans-Hermann Hoppe

* FACT: Big Media and Big Tech Stole the 2020 Election

* Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, by Yuval Noah Harari

* Ranked-Choice Voting (RCV)

* A Beginner's Guide to Decentralized Autonomous Organizations

Mental Models

* Making distinctions

* False dichotomy

* Inherent flaws/Fatal flaw

* Economic Calculation Problem

* Structural thinking

* Analogical thinking

* High stakes & reversibility

* Root cause analysis

* Incentives matter

Top Takeaways

* The distinction between whether the U.S. is a republic or a democracy is a false dichotomy. Democracy describes the nature of voting, while republic refers to the extent to which public policy reflects the will of the voters.

* The built-in mechanisms for government in the U.S. are the Constitution, federalism, republicanism, and democracy. Over time, the bureaucratic and intelligence state became another mechanism for the government that wasn't intended by the founders. Democracy is the opiate of the masses that hides the diminishing role the Constitution, federalism, and republicanism play in our current system of government.

* There is a large group of unelected bureaucrats that exert a lot of control over the day-to-day life of the citizenry.

* The power and money involved in government distort democracy by turning elections into high-stakes contests that incentivize power-hungry people to do anything necessary to win office.

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