In this thread, i'd like to deposit some theory on hell, and how best to govern it. The theory begins first with the assumption that there's either heaven or hell, and nothing in between. There is no "middle earth", as proposed in such fictions as Lord of the Rings. And i assume this is hell. The second part of the theory is that things that work in heaven don't work in hell. Conversely, things that work in hell don't work in heaven. As an example, i propose that equality is a condition that exists in heaven, and works...for heaven. At the same time, inequality is a condition of hell, and works...for hell. Concluding assumption: Any attempt to introduce heaven's conditions into hell are bound to fail. Worse, they are bound to fail badly, and make conditions in hell worse than before. Example: Take communism. Communism purports to recognize some sort of equality, and looks to a STATE to ENFORCE some sort of equality, AGAINST the apparent reality, that all peoples were created UNEQUAL. Even more, communism goes against the people's (denizens of hell) desire to be different, diverse, and therefore, UNEQUAL. Thus, the only way to bring a heavenly condition (communism) to hell (zip code: EARTH) is to FORCE it through the rise of a STATE. Inevitably, it results in a few authoritarians at the top of a lower class of slaves who live in fear. What seems like a noble cause consuming the hearts and minds of zealots, soon becomes the ignoble opiate of a totalitarian oligarchy...which sells this opiate to those masses of zealots through propaganda. Another example: Take "The divine right of Kings". This too did not work out very well, even though every occupant of heaven is guaranteed the divine right to be a King among Kings. This gives new meaning to the term "King of Kings", which speaks more of an EQUALITY where ALL are at the TOP (no hierarchy). This theory rests on assumptions about the basic conditions of heaven vs hell: Heaven: Equality, not hierarchy. No differences, no diversity. Hell : Inequality, hierarchy, differences, diversity. I theorize that the main draw to hell, is the condition of DIVERSITY as a way to achieve SPECIAL STATUS. I call this the STATUS QUO...of hell. If this is true, you can see that it is impossible to introduce the conditions of heaven into hell without stirring up a nest of angry bees. Speaking of bees (and at the risk of sounding like Chauncey Gardiner), beehives seem to "work" because they function as they accept HIERARCHY as a matter of fact...as a fact of life. There is always going to be a "Queen bee", worker bees, and others in between. If you introduced equality into a beehive, you would destroy it, and you would get no more honey. Conversely, any attempt to introduce hell's hierarchy into heaven would likewise destroy heaven. And so, these cannot coexist. Anarchy is similar to communism in that it tries to achieve equality, but instead of asking a STATE to FORCE some sort of equality on a lower class, anarchists would simply eliminate any STATE...any hierarchy at all. But there are plenty of reasons anarchy would make things worse, as [the nature of] hell abhors a vacuum...especially a vacuum of power. Translation: hell abhors equality. To be continued...