http://dschere.blogspot.com/2009/02/is-our-democracy-turning-into-pirate.html
This may sound like an over the top question, but Pirates of the colonial period, believe it or not, were democratic in that they voted for their Captains. Though they were criminals, lead by the likes of Edward Teach (aka Black Beard), Bartholomew Roberts and Henry Morgan, evidence collect by Professor Peter T. Leeson reveals a remarkable degree of self government organization. In the pirate democracy, the electorate based its decision on how much wealth the captain would bring them. The pirates called themselves “The brotherhood of the coast” they would sail around the Caribbean looking for booty that they felt they were entitled to. The Captain was totally at the whim of the electorate, there was no buffer of representatives between the leader and masses. If the crew was not satisfied by the amount of booty the Captain delivered he was eliminated. It didn’t matter what the circumstances where, if it happened while the Captain was in charge it was his fault.
The Pirate electorate cared little about the future consequences of their actions and lived purely for the moment. This behavior has been romanticized by popular culture down through the ages. And why not! After all, if you never save or invest in your future and live every moment like it’s your last having no moral scruples you can have a great time until you go broke. And when the pirate crewman went broke, which they always did, they turned to their government, their Captain to set them on a new course for riches (at someone else’s expense).
So we now have set sail on the high seas of deficit spending. The crew of our state are now again bankrupt having exhausted the stimulus checks and government sponsored bailouts and TARP funds we now search in new booty to steal from the coffers of our children. What is missing from this macabre analogy, are the warships that should have been sent to defend the victims of our pirate attacks, but of course the children can’t vote and thus they are unprotected merchant vessel laden with treasure. But who cares me mates! Why sob and cry, since when do we true buccaneers care about posterity eh?
What if our foreign creditors, who we owe most of our debt, send fleets of warships to end our golden age of cannibalistic piracy? What if they demanded that this ever growing debt be repaid in part now and remand a higher yield on our debt to reflect our credit quality? Now, one would think that with interest rate of less than 3% on a ten year treasury note (less than the real rate of inflation over the past 10 years) that our Captain would be sending flowers, thank you cards, and boxes of chocolate to our creditors. Surely he would be playing nice as could be as to not bite the hand that feeds us. But this is not the case! Nothing makes a true buccaneer angrier than assault upon their liberty! To wit behold the steadily eroding relations with our main creditors in China and Europe as they begin to question our credit quality and our ability to repay our debt. So what do our pirate skippers say?
What would Black Beard, perhaps the fiercest of all pirates advise us to do in our present situation?
He would probably have said, “Damn ye, ye yellow Chinese! I’m a better man that all ye milksops put together! Come, let us make a Hell of our own, and try how long we can bear it!".
Hmm, i would have an issue with that type of metaphor... It can be counter-productive; in the sense that ''pirat republics'' have been historically considered as proto-anarchical / libertarian societies (because of their direct democratic structure and individualistic ethos, as well as their continuing fight against states' sovereignty). Incidentally, they weren't as irresponsible and short sighted as the popular imagery has it.
M-la-maudite:Incidentally, they weren't as irresponsible and short sighted as the popular imagery has it.
After all, the burying of treasure can hardly be construed as the behavior of low time preference individuals.
Diminishing Marginal Utility - IT'S THE LAW!
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