> > I'm a willing capitalist now. But there are many in our society who don't
> > have my luck and/or ability. Some of them live at a level of subsistence
> > which IMO is beneath that fit for a human. That saddens me. I believe that
> > someday we'll be able to do better. That's *all* I was saying.
> Such people are the way they are because they buy the lie that they
> deserve more than what they've got, that they should not have to work
> for it. It saddens me that purportedly intelligent people like you
> continue to give such failed ideas credence, which condemns generations
> of millions of people to lives of squalor, hate, resentment, and failure
> because they are programmed to beleive the lie you give credence to.
I wouldn't put it quite that black-and-white, Michael. Yes, socialism
in any form /will/ condemn those people to lives as second-class citizens,
even in a world of material abundance. But not necessarily by any fault
of their own. On an individual level, the relationship between work and
success simply isn't as direct as Rand would like--there really do exist
such things as blind luck, unequal opportunity, predation. The greater
the overall abundance, the less painful the consequences of them are,
but they'll always be there.
While I disagree with Zero about the lot of the less fortunate--even
some of the poorest Americans are far wealthier than the /average/
Cuban--I do not for a moment think that each of those Cubans is personally
responsible for eir squalid life because of their beliefs. Most of
them are probably quite rational and self-interested, making the best
of the opportunities available to them.
-- Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lee/> "All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past, are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC
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