The Dictatorship of the CEO, something that has never really existed outside of science fiction.

Dictatorships of government? A bit more common, aren't they?

Amazing how much history you have to skip over to maintain your worldview. You basically stop at the mid-1800s. Kind of reminds me of my kids' history classes in school. I suspect the Twentieth Century raises too damn many questions about the ideologies so popular with our educational establishment.

Ironically, successful centralized control of a complex economy is much harder than it is for a primitive one.

I can see what kind of societies work, and I can see what kind of societies don't. So can anyone who bothers to look. The hard truth is that liberty is not divisible.

It's also obvious that there's no upper limit to the amount of state control a "progressive" will find sufficient. I've asked many times, where's the middle ground? Where is it enough? Where is that middle line, that "moderate" space?

It never will be enough. Even Soviet-style states think that everything will improve if they just squeeze the iron fist a little bit tighter.

Nobody can name one single major Democratic Party idea or policy that does NOT involve more power and wealth accruing to a central authority, and less power, wealth, and choice for individuals.

Not one.

I found it ironic that Bowser was nostalgic about the 1960s, back when the government was a quarter the size it is now, and economic controls far less. Wonder if that occurred to him.

I remember the thread discussing that guy's article about how everything was going to hell nowadays because we didn't have as much government as we had back in the halcyon days. I pointed out that in every case he mentioned, there actually was more government involvement, spending, and control now than there was back then. Correcting for inflation, even. "More government equals better living" was false.

That observation didn't go over well here, either.

Maybe my "ideal society" hasn't existed yet. Hint: It isn't a "zero government" society. But sure as hell a lot of totalitarian regimes have existed. All of them justifying themselves by saying you just can't make things work unless the rulers have more power.

I know which direction I'd like to be moving on your "multidimensional manifold," and which places I'd like to avoid. How about you?