Ranting to /dev/null

Real war sims

PointlessWasteOfTime has a really insightful piece about the paradoxes of war under representative governments (with nod to MetaFilter). It talks about what a simulation would have to be like to qualify as a real simulation of warfare.

This is a great read. Things like this, in addition to all the other crap that's been going on recently, are convincing me that representative government isn't a right, nor is it morally superior to anything else. Sometimes people just need a damned king. Monarchy is dangerous, and really problematic. But freedom is something you have to earn. Jefferson may have been a benightedly Enlightenment-influenced figure, but he had this right: "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." It's been a long time since any American blood was shed for our own liberty. How long will it be before it needs to happen again? I'll gladly donate mine, because there are things worse than dying.