Hi Don R., Diana, fellow moralists (i.e. all the LS),
Don R. (Drose) wrote:-
>The U.S. was never comfortable with imperialism. It was the basic
decency of
>the people of the U.S. and the role of the market economy that have
curbed the
>more egregious abuses of the market economy.
>
I mostly agree, but I would say that the basic decency is not
particularly an American value, but rather a universal value. One senses
it in almost any cross-cultural contact between individuals. This is
what motivated the Palestinian who drove two injured Israelis for help
after they were attacked (by his less decent brethren) earlier this week
near Hebron. Basic decency sometimes all but disappears in collective
cultures (e.g. nations) but is still there as soon as you have the
opportunity to deal with individuals.
>Slavery was abolished and discrimination officially ended not only
because it
>was held to be morally repugnant but because it makes no sense
economically.
>Partners in trade are much more preferable than subject colonies.
This is the PROBLEM with American values. So often, "economic sense"
takes precedence over basic decency, which is why the US allows horrible
poverty to persist. I think it all goes along with the anonymity of
modern culture. If you don't deal with people on an individual level,
basic decency hardly shows its face.
[snip]
>IMHO communism doesn't work. Period. Unless you somehow change
>human nature it can't work....At some point, the support structure of
the
>government overwhelms the ability of the state to compensate. The the
>enlightened despot turns into a dictatorship of bureacracy.
The dictatorship of bureaucracy is not just a communist problem. It is
this lack of individual contact.
I now see that Diana's "caring" is just part of the equation. It's also
*how* you care. It's not enough just to run a system with passion.
"Basic decency" depends on caring for people on an individual basis.
Jonathan
homepage - http://www.moq.org
queries - mailto:moq@moq.org
unsubscribe - mailto:majordomo@moq.org with UNSUBSCRIBE MOQ_DISCUSS in
body of email
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Sat Aug 17 2002 - 16:02:39 BST