pacifism is cowardly when inaction enables bad actors.

But pacifism isn’t inaction. It is action with the intent to do no harm.

not everyone values peace

The value of peace is social, not individual. You value peace when you know you have everything you want from the status quo. You embrace violence as a means of shifting conditions in your favor.

But violence comes at a grander social price. Simply embracing it because someone else has only compounds the costs.

the paradox of tolerance is not a paradox

The question of a socially acceptable degree of tolerance is a difficult one to answer philosophically and even more difficult to implement as social policy.

It is not strictly a paradox, but it is an unsolved problem.

don’t let the illusion of a peaceful society lull you into a vulnerable trance

The cost of violent action is what dissuades a violent response. People aren’t in a trance, they are taking a calculated risk.

never play fair with your enemy

Violating a social compact erodes trust. You reap a short term gain while everyone pays a long term price.

“Playing fair” is about establishing a social compact that everyone recognizes as beneficial. Violating broadly beneficial norms means accruing more enemies with whom you feel compelled to play unfairly.

the utopia that most considered a pipe dream became a feasible reality

The utopian era ended with WW1 and the industrialization of modern warfare. The 21st century has seen wave after wave of new investments in warfare, while domestic improvements and social welfare advances have ground nearly to a halt.

If there is a utopian future, it can only come with the abolition of international militarism. Otherwise, we continue to descend into generation after generation of escalating conflict and unchecked immolation of life and property.

not just in the US but it happens in the UK and other places too

Damn. Can’t believe New Labour is getting tarred with accepting soccer tickets, fancy clothes, and vacation packages from British Peer Lord Alli. Seems so unfair. Wish people would stop accusing the Labour government of being corrupt, when they are very obviously following the rules of accepting gifts and definitely not operating on any quid pro quo.

the new Labour government immediately found a £20 billion hole in the economy

New Labour has a set of accounting rules that count investment in capital as an expense and insists on running daily budget surpluses for their operating expenses.

Popping open your household account, making cartoonish bug-eyes, and announcing “We owe $200k on our 30 year mortgage but we only make $80k/year! We’re bankrupt for the next three years until we pay this house off!” This is New Labour accounting. It’s laughable and only ever used as an excuse not to spend any money.

On the flip side, this is the same party that insists on privatizing everything. From Thames Water to British Gas to UK Rail, every once-public service has to be turned over and rented back from the private sector. The Brits pass out these privatization contracts as sinecures, guaranteeing their financial friends huge piles of free no-risk revenues at the expense of the British taxpayer. And then they complain that the country has no money.

That New Labour slid directly into the driver’s seat the Tories left and gunned it isn’t something you can ignore, simply because the party leadership has changed.