Starbux:Democracy=Cafe:Monarchy

This is my second post for IntegralNaked and I thought I should entertain you with the above formula: Starbucks is to Democracy what an independent Café is to Monarchy.....

Last year I discussed Starbucks with a Barista (operator of an espresso machine) in an independent cafe in Oregon. He told me Starbucks tries very hard to give people the exact same quality in every outlet anywhere. You can always count on Starbucks to give you a B or B- coffee. You’ll never get a grade A coffee, but you also never have to put up with a D or F coffee. An independent cafe might give you an A grade coffee, if the barrista knows what they are doing, or you might have to put up with a C or D, or even worse, cup of coffee.

How does that relate to Democracy or Monarchy, you ask? Well, a King or Queen can get stuff done. They say do this and the people do it. That means an enlightened Monarch can really make a huge difference within one lifetime. The obvious drawback is that you only get an enlightened ruler once in a while and in between you have duds and despots. (Duds and Despots: good name for a pop band?) - That’s just like the little independent café: you might find a barrista who knows what they are doing and get a great coffee, or you might have to add a bunch of milk and down it just to get the caffein.....I figure your chances of getting a great coffee are about the same as getting a great monarch, maybe 30/70 or 20/80?

A democracy on the other hand evens out your highs and lows. You won’t get the brilliant ruler who gets shit done, but you are also less likely to get the dud...

posted by ottmar on June 23, 2004 11:52 AM | in Blogs