----- Original Message -----
From: Durant <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>How do you know what's it like when it is not run by the rich?
>The primaly desired outcome is to satisfy first the basic than
>other needs. Democracy assures than the outome is always just,
>or as just as possible, all there is for the democratic process to do
>is to find the best possible way.
>I cannot see the distiction
You have the contradiction in your own paragraph:
"as just as possible" vs "best possible way"
Those are two different solutions. Let me give you a real-life example that
actually happened to me.
A few years ago, I was skippering my sailboat on a 50 day trip from Guam to
San Francisco. Sailboats carry a finite amount of propane for heating
drinks and cooking. Moreover, if one runs out of anything a thousand miles
from land, one is out for the remainder of the trip.
We took the great circle route and it got quite cold in the northern
latitudes. My four crew members liked hot chocolate and coffee before going
on watch. However, I informed the crew that if they used propane to heat
their drinks every time they went on watch, we would run out before reaching
San Francisco.
I assumed if we ran out of propane the worst would be that we all would lose
a little weight, but since everyone could stand to lose a few pounds
anyway, I decide to let the crew decide. They decided to take a chance and
keep heating their drinks.
Well, we ran out of propane about half way across. Can you imagine eating
raw brown rice? It was a memorable experience. Collectively we lost about
100 pounds.
Had the crew forgone the hot drinks, they would not have suffered any
harmful effects and we wouldn't have run out of propane. The "just" answer
was to have hot drinks, but the "right" answer was not to have hot drinks.
Had there been lives at stake, I wouldn't have given them the choice.
A world that is over carrying capacity and about to run out of fuel is just
like my sailboat, except for one thing. If the fuel runs out this time,
billions are going to die. I wouldn't give them the choice.
Jay -- www.dieoff.com
