And now for something completely different…
Many of those who read this blog have children, and eventually it becomes necessary to explain to them the difference between the various political and economic systems which are established in different parts of the world. Yes, someday your little girl will have to learn that there are political leadership positions other than the Princess, and it’s better if she learns that from you than from her friends. But talking about politics and socioeconomics doesn’t have to be a difficult conversation, and, to make it even easier, here is a manual to explain 10 different types of government in the simple stick-figure pictures.
Let’s imagine some ideal country, and picture it as a stick figure, where the left leg is the government, the right leg is private enterprise, so that they balance each other and carry the rest of the country…
And here’s how the actual political and socioeconomic systems work:
List of X 
Almost educational. Need to review my subscription 🙂
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I hope me being educational is not enough for you to cancel it. 🙂
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Pencils sharpened.
Legs shaved.
When’s the test?
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Wait, legs shaved? What kind of test is that??? 🙂
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Multiple choice…
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Then it will be on the day of the next election.
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Brilliant!
You sir are a genius!
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Thank you. And da Vinci, Rembrandt, and Monet wasted their lives learning colors, composition and perspective.
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That’s right!
Doodles and cave paintings are underrated.
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I don’t know about my cave paintings, but I always suspected that my doodles were underrared.
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These stick figures don’t look very PG rated? 🙂
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I think you are reading way too much into these figures. They don’t even have any R-rated parts. 🙂
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:O but I feel perverted looking at them for more than 2 seconds though!
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Actually, this is probably not perverted at all. In most of these pictures, average people are getting screwed.
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Sir, I applaud, you mad political scientist you!
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“Mad political scientist”… I like that, can I take it as another nickname?
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Absolutely!
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Also: My poli-sci daughter enjoyed this but tut-tutted over the implication that Islam = radical theocracy.
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Your daughter is absolutely right, radical theocracy can be based on any religion – it could be Catholic (and had been), or even Wiccan or Mormon. But today Islamic counties are the only ones that could be called “radical theocracy” (think Saudi Arabia). Also, it’s not that easy to visualize a better stick-figure representation of a theocracy than the Muslim prayer position, considering that I’d already used up the kneeling pose.
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I suppose a stick person in a burka is no longer a stick person.
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I could have drawn that, but wouldn’t that be another tut-tuttable picture?
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Probably. It’s a land mine topic, really.
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That’s my favorite kind of topic.
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And that’s why we love you.
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Awww… thank you.
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The more I think about it, the more I think all government systems come down to one question: What’s in it for me?
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Just the lesser evil, if we’re lucky, I guess.
By the way, speaking of what’s in it for you, The Cutlet was one of those princess-obsessed girls I was talking about. 🙂
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Reblogged this on BrabbleRabble and commented:
I return to WordPress only to bring you the brilliant work of another! This shall be part of my educational arsenal for the kiddies and quite a few of my adult friends. Love you, X!!
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Thank you for the re-blog and your kind words.
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Haha! This is better than any economics lesson. You are brilliant!
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Thank you. I’ve read several economics textbooks, and I have noticed that stick figure pictures are udeservedly absent from almost every economic theory.
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The nice muscular legs kind of got me turned on. Just FYI
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These aren’t mine. Just FYI.
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Ohhhhhhh…. YOU!
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Holy shit I bust up laughing at this post. Your primer is wonderful.
Luckily my daughter, who is now a college student, took my values with her and is now a serial killer. No wait. She is a progressive. My prayers were answered, pretty amazing for an atheist. The spawn of my loins tuned out with a mind for critical thinking and objectivity.
Once again just dug this.
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Thank you. Also an atheist here, so I’m not at all surprised when God answers the prayers of those who don’t actually pray. 🙂
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Ha, this is brilliant. Loved the redacted bit. Very clever post!
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Thank you!
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This might be the most brilliant thing I have ever seen.
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You finally inspired me to get in touch with the right side of my brain.
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Is there a wrong side???
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There is no wrong side, but I’m mostly using the left (logical) side, unlike you.
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I can only imagine what that is like…
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LOL! The unicorn for libertarian was my absolute FAVORITE. Spot on!
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I know one place where libertarian ideals of complete freedom of explession, movement and association, and no government controls are the reality. This place is called “jungle”.
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well done! well done indeed!
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Thank you!
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Excellent work. This could be a Political Science quiz question – draw a line to the picture that best represents….
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Thank you. Unfortunately, with the quality of today’s school education, even drawing a line could pose a challenge to some students.
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*high five* The Best Use of Stick Figures Award should exist, and be awarded directly to you.
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Thank you. I’ll be perfectly fine if I just make it into the top ten. 🙂
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I eagerly await the next ten things you explain with stick figures.
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It took me 6 month to get the courage to actually start drawing this post, so I probably won’t make another one anytime soon.
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Awesome! Ten things I liked about this post
1- the little ball fists on the republican holding the chain saw
2- attention to detail on chainsaw blade
3- hilarious notion of “Normal Country”
4- socialism’s invisible bar stool
5- original use of German cyclist legs to explain politics
6- best representation of anarchy in a stick figure
7- stick-tank man is a crack up
8- first political blog post where unicorn was an appropriate conclusion
9- it inspired me to almost come up with ten things
10- Umm … err … all of the above I guess?
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Oh wow. A personal list of 10 is a comment… No one has ever done that for me before. Thank you for this, times 10.
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Was that my leg you used?
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Why, are you missing one?
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Shhhh!!! Don’t tell.
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Oh, I love this! So funny!!!
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Thank you! and another thank you for tweeting this!
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Sure thing 🙂
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Wombieism is the only way to go. Government by chocolate.
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I’m not so sure. I foresee that white chocolate would try to discriminate against dark chocolate.
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I haven’t been getting an update from your blog. I checked out my subscritption , and it was on ON. Ugh. WP glitch, I guess. Cheers .
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Brilliant! Positively brilliant!
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Thank you!
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You should write a textbook !
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Thank you, but that’s pretty much the extent of my political science knowledge.
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