We always here about the bad things a dictator does and most is true only if you oppose them. The scare tactic they use is being careful he/she will be a dictator. I live in a country that had a dictator and if you ask the people now most of the people who lived when the dictator was in power it was great. Here in the Dominican Republic all the infrastructure that is still operating and still standing was done in the dictatorship. The large land owners the government took their land and gave it to anyone who would grow food crops not for housing the land has been return to the original own now. Security could not be any higher a talked to a man in Puerto Plata who said you could put your wallet on the sidewalk and go back the next day and get it no one would touch it. Going down the road you come across steel bridges built during that time still in great shape while bridges built after that has fallen down. He put electricity into the countryside now we get it 8 hours a day. In a disaster the government move in with all the resources it had and the people worked to gather. Life in certain countries have changed for the worst after a dictator Iraq, and Libya comes to mind. I have visited Cuba seeing TV antenna coming out of little shacks and the people did not have very much but seem to be happy and not in debt. We have so much more but a lot is joint ownership with the bank There is what happens in a disaster they are prepared http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/30/science/hurricane-tips-from-cuba.html
I suppose it depends on which side you are on, if any. Or who you are. I read an article written by an Iraqi Christian and he said that Christians had things much better under Saddam Hussein than they have had it since the United States did its regime change thing there. He said Christians could worship openly under Saddam, and such has not been the case since.
I have worked in Poland and with East German companies, and much of what Martin writes applies. The main difference is a communist versus an autocrat!Secret police were, of course the common factor. Factory back-handers were commonplace, but queues for paint and timber, suits, shoes, handkerchiefs were normal. On the education front, the 3R's were very well covered, but who wanted to learn Russian from the hated oppressor ?
I think the best form of government would be a benevolent dictatorship. But, like Communism, it won't work. Some people would not obey the rules then you have to enforce the rules. The same thing is true in a Democracy. When people don't obey the rules/laws, they get punished by prison or fines. This is done by court of law. In a benevolent dictatorship, it would necessarily have to be done by the dictator or someone designated by him. Then you have angry citizens and uprisings. The uprisings have to be quelled. Then the US would come in and "Liberate" the poor oppressed citizens.
@Mike Dobra Off thread, but I've wondered since you joined, and was reluctant to ask anything personal: Seeing the similarity between your user name, can you translate "Dobrego Pastera"? Frank
@Mike Dobra That phrase, which I may have misspelled, was presented above the entrance of a Polish church in Chicago. My Dad, discussing it with our Polish neighbor, believed it to mean "House of the Good Shepard", while the neighbor had trouble explaining it at all! I just thought that, given your username, "Dobray" or "Dobra", I believe means good, nice, acceptable, something like that, and perhaps might infer that you are Polish. Sanoica, believe it or not, is a Polish name! Frank
Thanks Frank - yes Dobra is a frequently said as approval. My Polish vocabulary is minimal as German is spoken and English quite well too. I watch TVP Polonia channel several times a week, and for the UK and US there are subtitles as Polish is a complicated language to conquer. I worked there for a year and still keep up to date.
I have always believed that too @Shirley Martin but as you say it wouldn't really work either, mainly in my opinion because all forms of government either encourage our base survival and greed motives or work against them. I tend to believe a reasonable compromise is capitalism with a degree of controlling socialism, to soften the greedy extremes of the capitalist. We have had that in the UK on and off but sadly greed is currently taking over. Regarding your point about about the people in general being happy under a dictatorship @Martin Alonzo that certainly applies in a kind of way to a lot of people under the Russian form of Communism who were happy, where now they are unhappy under the current regime, which is a form of capitalist dictatorship in essence. There was a recent series of BBC documentaries on Russia, watch part 3 here from 38:00 minutes to see how a lot of people live now. I have the other two parts if anyone is interested.
I started this thread not to promote the idea of dictatorship but to point out the differences. A dictator steals the countries money for himself or close family as the politico system of so called democracy has thousands of people all stealing the people’s money for themselves and close family. Democracy is just a fancy word for mob rule the more people you can convince [or lie to] to be their leader. Then bring in laws that go against the will of the majority. They use the word dictator to discredit any leader good or bad and an excuse to remove him/her unless it is a useful dictator like Saudi Arabia then nothing is ever said
I should think that "King" and "Dictator" can equate, sometimes but not always. Some Kings are Dictators, but not all. OTOH, Dictator does not seem to equate with King. No wonder my wife wonders........ Frank
After a Theocracy of course, yes. Historically benevolent dictators have provided the best for their country and people. Theocracy is so rare and unheard of, no one thinks of it as even possible until Jesus Returns. How many lies did hitler have to tell to come to power ? Compare to how many lies for a century now the drug makers had to tell to get a monopoly including laws to protect their lies in the usa ?