Plutocracy

CSGnet Archive CSG2012
1

[From Rick Marken (2012.06.12.0930)]

Attached is an op-ed written by my friend and one-time colleague Norm
Ferguson. I'm posting it because I think it's great but also because
it is relevant to our discussion of economics and also because Norm
was an important part of my becoming a control theorist. Norm was my
colleague at Augsburg College, a physiological psychologist who and a
Skinnerian. It was due to my attempts to formulate a coherent rebuttal
to Norm's Skinnerianism that I got into PCT. I didn;t really figure
out what I felt was a satisfactory answer to the who behavior control
thing until recently but Norm himself kind of converted to my side
after becoming a student counselor at the college. He came to me one
day and said something like "You know I think you have something there
Rick. Every one of the students with problems says, at some point,
that they feel like their life is "out of control". Norm realized that
being in control is what it's all about and being out of control
sucks. And of course we know that people lose control when they get
into conflicts with themselves, the conflicts themselves being a
result of their efforts to be in control (oy).

Anyway, Norm is a nice, sensible, frugal Scot -- not a firebrand
revolutionary Maccabee like me -- so I was surprised and charmed when
he sent me this piece, which was published as an op-ed in his local
paper.

I'm sending it out for your enjoyment (well, some of you) and in honor
of Norm, who had a major (and probably unknown to him still) influence
on my becoming a control theorist.

Best

Rick

Welcome to Plutocracy.doc (26.5 KB)

···

--
Richard S. Marken PhD
rsmarken@gmail.com
www.mindreadings.com

Content-Type: application/msword; name="Welcome to Plutocracy.doc"
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="Welcome to Plutocracy.doc"
X-Attachment-Id: f_h3d64y1c0

2

bob hintz 2012 June 12

That was a nice editorial. I am attaching a very cogent article titled “why do working class people vote conservative”. It struck me as correct, but I don’t know what to do about it.

bob

why do working class people vote conservative.pdf (59.3 KB)

···

On Tue, Jun 12, 2012 at 11:27 AM, Richard Marken rsmarken@gmail.com wrote:

[From Rick Marken (2012.06.12.0930)]

Attached is an op-ed written by my friend and one-time colleague Norm

Ferguson. I’m posting it because I think it’s great but also because

it is relevant to our discussion of economics and also because Norm

was an important part of my becoming a control theorist. Norm was my

colleague at Augsburg College, a physiological psychologist who and a

Skinnerian. It was due to my attempts to formulate a coherent rebuttal

to Norm’s Skinnerianism that I got into PCT. I didn;t really figure

out what I felt was a satisfactory answer to the who behavior control

thing until recently but Norm himself kind of converted to my side

after becoming a student counselor at the college. He came to me one

day and said something like "You know I think you have something there

Rick. Every one of the students with problems says, at some point,

that they feel like their life is “out of control”. Norm realized that

being in control is what it’s all about and being out of control

sucks. And of course we know that people lose control when they get

into conflicts with themselves, the conflicts themselves being a

result of their efforts to be in control (oy).

Anyway, Norm is a nice, sensible, frugal Scot – not a firebrand

revolutionary Maccabee like me – so I was surprised and charmed when

he sent me this piece, which was published as an op-ed in his local

paper.

I’m sending it out for your enjoyment (well, some of you) and in honor

of Norm, who had a major (and probably unknown to him still) influence

on my becoming a control theorist.

Best

Rick

–

Richard S. Marken PhD

rsmarken@gmail.com

www.mindreadings.com

3

[From Rick Marken (2012.06.12.1820)]

bob hintz 2012 June 12

That was a nice editorial. �I am attaching a very cogent article titled "why
do working class people vote conservative". �It struck me as correct, but I
don't know what to do about it.

Thanks Bob. Interesting paper but given that the Democrats (and
reasonable Republicans) had the edge until 1980 I would attribute the
shift to a change in policies rather than to a change in moral taste
buds. The one big policy change was the civil rights act. This
converted the racist southerners from the Democratic to the Republican
party, giving us the Reagan Democrats.

Another big problem was ending the fairness doctrine giving wealthy
conservatives (reactionaries, really) access to a much bigger
megaphone. The media is now dominated by "conservative" ideas without
any requirement that broadcasters (using the publicly owned airwaves)
fairly represent opposing views. So the right wing sewage that comes
from talk radio, Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, etc, is considered
"mainstream".

There is not really much to be done about it, I suppose. Just try to
ride it out. People eventually get the idea. Heck, the Swedes used
to be Viking raiders, for goodness sakes. And now they're among the
most decent people in the world.

Best

Rick

···

--
Richard S. Marken PhD
rsmarken@gmail.com
www.mindreadings.com

4

It makes the case pretty well, hopefully the working class will continue to oppose the moral corruption of using other promises of entitlements purchase votes. – Martin L

···

On 6/12/12 12:46 PM, “Bob Hintz” bob.hintz@GMAIL.COM wrote:

bob hintz 2012 June 12

That was a nice editorial. I am attaching a very cogent article titled “why do working class people vote conservative”. It struck me as correct, but I don’t know what to do about it.

bob

On Tue, Jun 12, 2012 at 11:27 AM, Richard Marken rsmarken@gmail.com wrote:

[From Rick Marken (2012.06.12.0930)]

Attached is an op-ed written by my friend and one-time colleague Norm

Ferguson. I’m posting it because I think it’s great but also because

it is relevant to our discussion of economics and also because Norm

was an important part of my becoming a control theorist. Norm was my

colleague at Augsburg College, a physiological psychologist who and a

Skinnerian. It was due to my attempts to formulate a coherent rebuttal

to Norm’s Skinnerianism that I got into PCT. I didn;t really figure

out what I felt was a satisfactory answer to the who behavior control

thing until recently but Norm himself kind of converted to my side

after becoming a student counselor at the college. He came to me one

day and said something like "You know I think you have something there

Rick. Every one of the students with problems says, at some point,

that they feel like their life is “out of control”. Norm realized that

being in control is what it’s all about and being out of control

sucks. And of course we know that people lose control when they get

into conflicts with themselves, the conflicts themselves being a

result of their efforts to be in control (oy).

Anyway, Norm is a nice, sensible, frugal Scot – not a firebrand

revolutionary Maccabee like me – so I was surprised and charmed when

he sent me this piece, which was published as an op-ed in his local

paper.

I’m sending it out for your enjoyment (well, some of you) and in honor

of Norm, who had a major (and probably unknown to him still) influence

on my becoming a control theorist.

Best

Rick

–

Richard S. Marken PhD
rsmarken@gmail.com
www.mindreadings.com

5

Come on Rick, the guy committed fraud and doesn't know his history if he
thinks Franklin meant this:

³A republic (democracy), if you can keep it.²

BTW, campaign financing has long exceeded the mere billions being
discussed, with unfunded promises of entitlements. Why would small
government conservatives purposely hamstring themselves while leaving
central planners unconstrained?

-- Martin L

default.xml (3.15 KB)

···

On 6/12/12 9:27 AM, "Richard Marken" <rsmarken@GMAIL.COM> wrote:

[From Rick Marken (2012.06.12.0930)]

Attached is an op-ed written by my friend and one-time colleague Norm
Ferguson. I'm posting it because I think it's great but also because
it is relevant to our discussion of economics and also because Norm
was an important part of my becoming a control theorist. Norm was my
colleague at Augsburg College, a physiological psychologist who and a
Skinnerian. It was due to my attempts to formulate a coherent rebuttal
to Norm's Skinnerianism that I got into PCT. I didn;t really figure
out what I felt was a satisfactory answer to the who behavior control
thing until recently but Norm himself kind of converted to my side
after becoming a student counselor at the college. He came to me one
day and said something like "You know I think you have something there
Rick. Every one of the students with problems says, at some point,
that they feel like their life is "out of control". Norm realized that
being in control is what it's all about and being out of control
sucks. And of course we know that people lose control when they get
into conflicts with themselves, the conflicts themselves being a
result of their efforts to be in control (oy).

Anyway, Norm is a nice, sensible, frugal Scot -- not a firebrand
revolutionary Maccabee like me -- so I was surprised and charmed when
he sent me this piece, which was published as an op-ed in his local
paper.

I'm sending it out for your enjoyment (well, some of you) and in honor
of Norm, who had a major (and probably unknown to him still) influence
on my becoming a control theorist.

Best

Rick

--
Richard S. Marken PhD
rsmarken@gmail.com
www.mindreadings.com

6

[From Rick Marken (2012.06.13.1110)]

Come on Rick, the guy committed fraud and doesn't know his history if he
thinks Franklin meant this:

�A republic (democracy), if you can keep it.�

Come on Marty. The guy didn't commit fraud and even if he did he's
free to do it, isn't he? You don't want to be seen as no stinkin'
central planner, do you?

RSM

···

On Tue, Jun 12, 2012 at 11:29 PM, Martin Lewitt <mlewitt@comcast.net> wrote:

BTW, campaign financing has long exceeded the mere billions being
discussed, with unfunded promises of entitlements. Why would small
government conservatives purposely hamstring themselves while leaving
central planners unconstrained?

-- Martin L

On 6/12/12 9:27 AM, "Richard Marken" <rsmarken@GMAIL.COM> wrote:

[From Rick Marken (2012.06.12.0930)]

Attached is an op-ed written by my friend and one-time colleague Norm
Ferguson. I'm posting it because I think it's great but also because
it is relevant to our discussion of economics and also because Norm
was an important part of my becoming a control theorist. Norm was my
colleague at Augsburg College, a physiological psychologist who and a
Skinnerian. It was due to my attempts to formulate a coherent rebuttal
to Norm's Skinnerianism that I got into PCT. I didn;t really figure
out what I felt was a satisfactory answer to the who behavior control
thing until recently but Norm himself kind of converted to my side
after becoming a student counselor at the college. He came to me one
day and said something like "You know I think you have something there
Rick. Every one of the students with problems says, at some point,
that they feel like their life is "out of control". Norm realized that
being in control is what it's all about and being out of control
sucks. And of course we know that people lose control when they get
into conflicts with themselves, the conflicts themselves being a
result of their efforts to be in control (oy).

Anyway, Norm is a nice, sensible, frugal Scot -- not a firebrand
revolutionary Maccabee like me -- so I was surprised and charmed when
he sent me this piece, which was published as an op-ed in his local
paper.

I'm sending it out for your enjoyment (well, some of you) and in honor
of Norm, who had a major (and probably unknown to him still) influence
on my becoming a control theorist.

Best

Rick

--
Richard S. Marken PhD
rsmarken@gmail.com
www.mindreadings.com

--
Richard S. Marken PhD
rsmarken@gmail.com
www.mindreadings.com