Re: Has the 'Bitcoin Experiment' changed your political or economic views at all?
Holy shit! 
. This is the most genuine example of double-think I have seen yet! Weak states are bad because they use their total and absolute power to enslave and brutalize their citizens, and strong states are benevolent overseers with no power over their citizens, who let them do whatever they want and prosper? Damn, you are NUTS!
You know what the difference between USA and Stalin-era USSR was? One country was afraid of it's citizens, too weak to control them, and relied on their input and approval for everything it did, and the other country was too strong for any of it's citizens to oppose it, and controlled every aspect of all its citizen's lives, to the point of being able to take over 6,000,000 of those lives. Either you are some seriously f'ed up Orwellian psychopath, or you have some crazy notions about what strong and weak mean.
. This is the most genuine example of double-think I have seen yet! Weak states are bad because they use their total and absolute power to enslave and brutalize their citizens, and strong states are benevolent overseers with no power over their citizens, who let them do whatever they want and prosper? Damn, you are NUTS!You know what the difference between USA and Stalin-era USSR was? One country was afraid of it's citizens, too weak to control them, and relied on their input and approval for everything it did, and the other country was too strong for any of it's citizens to oppose it, and controlled every aspect of all its citizen's lives, to the point of being able to take over 6,000,000 of those lives. Either you are some seriously f'ed up Orwellian psychopath, or you have some crazy notions about what strong and weak mean.
Nah, the USA was and is an extremely strong state. Perhaps the strongest in the world. The USSR eventually collapsed (though in its heyday it was a relatively strong state). States that are prone to collapse are called weak states. It means the rulers/ruling institutions have a weak hold on power.
When you have a strong hold on power, then you collect revenue through things like income taxes. When you have a weak hold on power, then you collect revenue through methods that are much easier to enforce (i.e. the printing press, taxes on imports, state control of mineral resources).
When you have a strong hold on power, you can collect revenue fairly evenly from all citizens. When you have a weak hold on power, you can only target your extraction efforts on social groups that are too feeble to oppose you (typically the poor). If you target rich elites, then the military shows up at the presidential office with the tanks pointed at the dictator.
When you have a strong hold on power, no one significant wants to topple you. When you have a weak hold on power, there are credible threats out there that seek to oust you. To neutralize these threats, weak states employ brutal methods of repression. For strong states such measures are counterproductive.
You should consider reading up on political science. You are not familiar with the terms used to describe states in that field.