Tiberius Thought

'Note: I'm currently starting a blog and transferring much of this page to it. I'll link it here (twice) when complete. For now I intend to simplify this page so people get a basic summary of my views, and not an extended essay. The blog will be more organized as well.'

Braun Spencer Thought is the economically center, culturally left, and authoritarian ideology of the Reddit user u/BraunSpencer.

Philosophy
Braun Spencer Thought, unlike most modern liberals, is a philosophical  idealist, seeing reality as dependent on subjective conscious experience. That said he also subscribes to utilitarianism and  positive liberty, leading him to adopt  communtiarian and  paternalistic positions. For example, a drug addict isn't truly free as he is a slave to a passion he cannot break free from; forcing him to undergo treatment will make him freer in the long-term, despite infringing on his personal freedoms in the short-term. Given his radical consequentialism, Braun Spencer Thought believes the ends do justify the means.

Civics
Braun Spencer Thought's political system can be best described as authoritarian liberal democracy. He wants a strong federal government with supremacy over most national affairs; although he sees merit in delegating some responsibliites to the states. The federal government should do whatever it can to destroy threats to its power at home and abroad, keep the peace between states, and to direct commerce towards optimizing presitge and prosperity. He also desires executive agencies to have more autonomy while minimizing corruption.

Economy
Braun Spencer Thought advocates for a free-market economy with  dirigist characteristics. He believes the economic hierarchies free markets produce are a net positive for society. As some people, whether born in rags or in riches, possess a tendency towards brilliance and leadership; and when these people are elevated to positions of power, often sacrificing everything to share their dream with the world, everyone prospers. And by allocating resources according to consumer preferences—and firms will fail if they exhibit corruption or lagginess overtime—they also create the conditions for revolutionary change. Consumers ultimately vote with their dollar.

That said, Braun Spencer Thought doesn't support laissez-faire. He sees the need for nudging and influening markets to drive markets towards their theoretical potentiality. Namely:
 * [[File:Technocracy.png]] Technocratic organizations to protect [[File:SyndieSam.png]] workers, consumers, and non-consenting third parties from harm. (Although eventually these organizations should have their functions automated to reduce [[File:Klep.png]] corruption.) Some examples:
 * Forbidding pilots from sleeping on the job, as that can kill passengers.
 * Ensuring workplaces take care to maximize safe conditions for employees.
 * Fining producers for pollution (a negative externality).
 * Protecting critical industries—like semiconductor manufacturing, essential to national security and technology spill over—from foreign competition via subsidies, licensing, etc. Nationalization (in whole or in part) and tariffs are worth exploring, although the latter as a last resort.
 * And expanded upon below, basic safety nets are not only good politics to keep the masses content with the system, but to also correct many market failures that, if left alone, will be capital's undoing.

Unions
Although originally supportive of trade unions, Braun Spencer Thought now dislikes them. In his home country, the United States, unions were a source of  class warfare and  corruption. Unions also have the ability to hold important industries hostage—condemning everyone else to hardship—for petty wage increases. This actually turned public opinion against trade unions in the 40s. For example, if the railroad workers went on strike tomorrow, people will starve as it will further destabilize supply chains. This is unacceptable, regardless of how great unions are for individual workers. While he doesn't support completely outlawing trade unions, he's for keeping them on a leash and outlawing their most destructive tools (like industrial strikes). The aforementioned technocratic regulatory organizations should take on the role unions once did.

Environment
Braun Spencer Thought believes climate change is irreversible at this point for the following reasons:
 * 1) Climate change is a trade off. People got effective medicine, food security, and other revolutionary advances in exchange for decaying ecology.
 * 2) Because of 1, the only realistic way to stop climate change at this point is to force everyone back into [[File:Antiurban.png]] pre-industrial [[File:Farm.png]] agriculture through [[File:Polpot.png]] coercive measures on a global scale. Basically a global [[File:Agsoc.png]] agrarian socialist dictatorship with [[File:Stalinism.png]] Stalinist characteristics. This will never happen; even if it did, the amount of people it will kill would be the same as the number climate change will claim.
 * 3) Nuclear energy, the only real competitor to oil and natural gas—renewable energy being a scam, despite being politically effective—is politically infeasible. It's also inefficient, as it mandates constant [[File:Statism.png]] state intervention to the point of nationalization just to cover all short-term and long-term costs.
 * 4) And, sorry [[File:Marketsoc.png]] market socialists, but worker co-ops, just as unions do now, will likely be just as hostile to "green" measures as private companies today (if not more so).

Anything we do at this point is too little, too late. Capital, the source of all revolutionary change for 10,000 years, is an inherently progressive force. If the planet must die for capital to flourish, then it's inevitable. Climate change ensures capital is free from human resistance. And few people are willing to return to the days of hunter-gathering societies for the sake of surviving as a species.

The only way to deal with climate change now is harm reduction. We must invest in infrastructure at home and abroad to minimize the harms associated with climate change (e.g., sea walls to mitigate floods, better buildings to resist tornadoes, water systems to preserve H2O, and cramped apartments with AC). We can also implement carbon taxes and finance slightly greener alternatives (like electric cars) to just barely reduce the future effects of climate change.

Culture
Braun Spencer Thought is a communitarian. It supports positive liberty—the idea true liberty requires freedom from biological or structural constraints—and stability, which justifies a paternalistic regime that socially engineers society towards ideal outcomes.

[[File:Pro-Choice1.png]] Pro-Choice
Braun Spencer Thought is strongly pro-choice. It believes abortion is necessary to maintain sustainable fertility among the lower classes and mentally and physically defective. It also supports the Icelandic model, where the government pays females to get abortions.

International
Despite what his economic nationalism implies, Braun Spencer Thought espouses  liberal internationalism. He does believe the United States should prioritize its economic and national security interests in the short-term, while using global institutions like the  United Nations to help achieve these aims, in the long-term he wants a  global federation of  liberal-democratic,  capitalist states.

US interventions Braun Spencer Thought supports includes:
 * [[File:Cball-South_Korea.png]] The Korean War (1950-53)
 * [[File:CommunistPartyVietnam.png]] The Vietnam War (1955-1975)
 * [[File:Cball-Panama.png]] Operation Just Cause (1991)
 * [[File:Cball-Kuwait.png]] The Gulf War (1992)
 * [[File:Cball-Iraq.png]] The Iraq War (2003-2012)

Influences

 * Andrew Jackson (1767-1845 AD)
 * Aristotle (384-322 BC)
 * Elizabeth Warren (1949-present AD)
 * Epicurus (341-270 BC)
 * Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945 AD)
 * Harry S. Truman (1884-1972 AD)
 * Ian Fletcher (???-present AD)
 * Irving Kristol (1920-2009 AD)
 * Isaiah Berlin (1909-1997 AD)
 * James Madison (1751-1836 AD)
 * Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778 AD)
 * John M. Keynes (1883-1946 AD)
 * John S. Mill (1806-1873 AD)
 * John Rawls (1921-2002 AD)
 * Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973 AD)
 * Margaret Sanger (1879-1966 AD)
 * Michael Lind (1962-present AD)
 * Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527 AD)
 * Richard Spencer (1978-present AD)
 * Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919 AD)
 * Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826 AD)
 * Thomas Paine (1737-1809 AD)
 * Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924 AD)

Based

 * [[File:OwfBall.png]] Owfism - You're seeing the [[File:Libhawk.png]] light, my friend. Most excellent.
 * - Based philosophically and overall interesting ideology.
 * - We're have rather similar policy platforms and you seem nice as a person.
 * - A lovely friend I share a lot of common ground with.
 * [[File:NSL.png]] - I like your ideology, but if you embraced [[File:Neobert.png]]  on top of everything else you believe that'd be epic.
 * [[File:Uzarashvilism.png]] - I've moderated my views a bit since we last spoke, but I remain sympathetic to your beliefs.
 * - HUEY LONG GANG!
 * [[File:NeoArctoismIcon.png]] - I think we have more in common than in differences now, albeit with some strong philosophical contentions.
 * [[File:Floofelsballicon.png]] Fluffy Thought - A wonderful friend who's basically what I was earlier this year.
 * - We might be drifting apart ideologically, but I consider you a good friend.
 * [[File:Glencoe.png]] Glencoe - Not bad.
 * [[File:Rocksismicon.png]] Rocksism - You seem chill. I still have a soft spot for democratic socialism.

Bringe

 * - Uh...
 * [[File:Panth.png]] Pantheonism - Ideologically meh...
 * [[File:Fixed_autocrates.png]] Autocrateism - Sorry, but capitalism requires a strong state to minimize net harm. [[File:Minarchist.png]] Minarchism can only work in an [[File:Farm.png]] agrarian society.
 * [[File:ProtTheo.png]] Reginald thought - Your views are tolerable, but your views on climate change are naïve at best.
 * - A rather nice person although I'm not as friendly to anarchism as I used to be...

Cringe

 * [[File:pixil-frame-0(27).png]] New Model Of Cheesenism - We may have vague similarities economically, but I'm not a fan of your reactionary tendencies.
 * [[File:Nazcapf.png]] Lanceism - Your solutions to current problems (like outlawing abortion) would make them worse. Please moderate your views and, while you're at it, get your own art and icon.
 * - I don't know why, but you give me bad vibes. Initiating Directive 7395: Destroy all communists!

Positive

 * [[File:Orlib.png]] - Most based economics.
 * [[File:AuthLibDem.png]] - Excellent political system.
 * [[File:World_Federalism2.png]] - A goal worth aspiring towards.
 * [[File:Imp.png]] - The only realistic way to achieve the above.
 * [[File:Neocon_Distributism_with_helm.png]] International Distributism - Pretty admirable, not gonna lie.
 * [[File:Patriot.png]] - I'm proud to be an American.
 * [[File:NatProg-0.png]] - You, I like you a lot.
 * [[File:JackDem.png]] - Bloody epic.
 * [[File:Lyndon_B._Johnson.png]] LBJ Progressivism - An underrated president; promoting [[File:Soccap.png]] social capitalism at home, sending [[File:ML.png]] Reds to Hell abroad.
 * [[File:FDRismF.png]] Rooseveltianism - FDR and Truman are among my top ten favorite presidents for a reason.
 * [[File:Hillaryism_Sprite.png]] Hillaryism - Having objectively the best policies, I wish every day now that you won 2016. [[File:Cball-Russia.png]] Russia should never be forgiven.

Mixed

 * [[File:Authcap.png]] - While [[File:Cball-Brazil.png]][[File:Pinochet-hat.png]][[File:Cball-Nicaragua.png]] you guys were useful assets against the [[File:Soc.png]] Red Menace, some of the things you did were otherwise garbage.
 * [[File:Persondignity.png]] - Great ideas—and I certainly prefer you to [[File:Hochi.png]] Ho the Rat—but your reckless implementation got you [[File:CIA.png]] overthrown.
 * [[File:Neoliberal-icon.png]] - I don't despise you like I did before, but trade needs to be regulated.

Negative

 * [[File:ML.png]] - It warms my heart knowing you lost the Cold War.
 * [[File:Altr.png]] - Currently America's most dangerous fifth column.
 * [[File:Trump.png]] - The evil embodiment of the above.
 * [[File:Putin.png]] - Undermining [[File:Cball-Russia.png]] Russia is objectively a net positive for humanity.
 * [[File:XiJinpingThoughtf.png]] Xi Jinping Thought - [[File:Cball-China.png]] China is the single greatest threat to human flourishing in the long-term.
 * [[File:Chavismo.png]] - If only Guaidó got away with it.
 * [[File:Chom.png]] Chomskyism - Please go away already.
 * [[File:Civlibert.png]] - A pipe dream.

Comments
Will clear every once in a while. I LOVE CIVIL LIBERTIES I LOVE CIVIL LIBERTIES I LOVE CIVIL LIBERTIES
 * [[File:Panth.png]] Pantheonism -
 * [[File:Vamp.png]] Braun Spencer Thought - Time for internment camps!
 * [[File:Panth.png]] Pantheonism - Literally 1984 !