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Culture War Roundup for the week of October 16, 2023

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Disagree on that one. That the Academic/Managerial class has devolved into an ossified gerontocracy, is exactly why a broken government is a good thing.

The less opportunity or ability they have to interfere with the people actually producing things the better.

Don't underestimate the ability of a broken government to get in the way though. The government offices being empty doesn't mean buildings get built without approval, it merely means that nothing can be approved at all, so nothing will be built. The enforcement wing is sadly usually the last to break, so it can continue preventing action long after it has lost the capability to allow it.

The enforcement wing is sadly usually the last to break, so it can continue preventing action long after it has lost the capability to allow it.

We're talking about the feds here. The vast majority of things don't need federal approval. The state governments can approve things.

Fair. I guess my impression is that state governments are nearly just as broken, or at least we'll on the way. Plus, the things that do require federal approval are rather important.

I mean there's: nearly all large scale farming and mining, most (all?) energy production, pharmaceuticals (both new production of old drugs and new drugs,) and many imports, just off the top of my head.

It's not like all that will stop with a broken government, but the anarchotyrranic effects will only get stronger.

I guess my impression is that state governments are nearly just as broken

I'm not going to argue that they aren't broken, but my understanding is that when they're broken, they're usually broken in a very different way. States tend to come under single-party rule for prolonged periods of time, which doesn't have the particular failing we're talking about, but comes with another host of problems.