In reply to Harry's post: > This "so-called" loss of community argument is without merit, perhaps > stimulated by nostalgia. If people sensed any loss they would continue to > pay higher prices at the corner store. But, they don't. Given the > opportunity, they go to Walmart. > > I know they are inferior people unable to appreciate the community feelings > from which superior people take pleasure, but I happen to think that > inferior bargain-seeking people have rights too.
I suppose you could put it this way, if by "inferior" you mean "people who don't know what they're doing because they do not grasp the fuller consequences of their choices". I think Arthur has spoken well to this with his parable of the corner gas station. The gas is cheaper, but now we need more cops and social programs and, to allude to another subject, we also have yet another "problem" for the schools to solve. There is also the novelty of it all, to say nothing of the advertising & other gimmicks that can lure people to the new store. By the time the novelty wears off, the old & familiar has disappeared. But the basic point is, all the excitement needs to be counterbalanced by a fuller appreciation of what is at stake. The incomparable Thomas Hobbes is incomparable just because he can express these things so *perfectly* ... check out this passage! ---> "For all men are by nature provided of notable multiplying glasses [microscopes] (that is, their passions and self-love) through which every little payment appeareth a great grievance, but are destitute of those prospective glasses [telescopes] (namely moral and civil science) to see afar off the miseries that hang over them and cannot without such payments be avoided" (*Leviathan*, closing sentence of Ch 18). (I'm thinking it is HOBBES who wrote Shakespeare, not the pedestrian Francis Bacon ... It is a mere inconvenience that TH would have had to do so at the age of 12. Hobbes was born in the Year of Armada - 1588 - and related later to John Aubrey that his mother was put into labour by her worry over the Spanish Invasion - "Fear and I were Twins," he said.) (Aubrey's short bio of Hobbes is the best and longest in his *Short Lives*) > inferior bargain-seeking people have rights too. > (I note that both left and right stand stoutly on the side of democracy - > but are rather selective as to the rights the Great Unwashed may be allowed > to have.) Yes, let's talk about rights. As Bill Moyers told us, Harvey Wiley is a hero because he pioneered Pure Food and Drug legislation - (and BTW, my maternal grandfather, a rural Iowa merchant's son, was one of Dr Wiley's "poison squad" assistants). People have a right to know what's in the stuff they buy. I say they have a right to know what they're doing when they buy something from X rather than from Y. They have a right to a proper accounting - and not just of ingredients! Truth in packaging! Down with false advertising! > TAXES > > I don't know anything about the Fraser Institute, but they are making a > good point. I notice that when more tax money is wanted, failure to supply > it always becomes the death knell for education, or the road to fewer > police and firemen - or, in your case, the end of clean water. > > But, the con isn't working so well in the States. There is heavy suspicion > in the electorate that the money goes to establish bureaucratic empires > rather than into actual service. .... [ETC] I don't have much to say here. It sounds like a general condemnation of how tax money is spent and the usual responses apply. I will observe that many "private" operations would fare pretty badly too if examined for efficiency and bang-for-buck. Consider, if nothing else, executive salaries and perks... But I don't propose to go over this old ground. I'm sure there is plenty of room for improvement in all sectors of the economy. What I object to with the Fraser Institute is the propagandistic nonsense that when I pay taxes "somebody" is taking from me something to which *I* am entitled (*my pay*). This is of a piece with the equally propagandistic crap about the rugged individual and self-made man who doesn't owe anything to anybody. Maybe we should abolish the income tax ... it just provides an occasion for this moronic nonsense about "the government" stealing my money. We the people can probably pool the resources we need for public works in some other way ... and each of us can just be paid less ... and keep all of it, if that's what would make these jerks happy. Tax Freedom Day would be on 1 January. It's just dishonest and self-serving. The Western Canadian provincial Premiers met over the weekend and issued a call to the Feds in Ottawa requesting $$$$ to help them deal with the bad economic consequences of the discovery of a case of Mad Cow Disease. The Mayor of Toronto calls for $$$$$ from the province of Ontario to deal with the bad economic consequences of SARS. I want to know why these guys are not screaming and yelling about getting the GOVERNMENT OFF THEIR BACKS - which is their usual refrain. Like I say, I think most of this right wing stuff is just self-serving crapola. I'm with Bill Moyers. > In Los Angeles, the Catholic School District and the Board of Education > work in parallel - except the Catholics get far better results ... ... [ETC. about schools ...] Again, a huge topic and the usual responses apply - eg, are the Catholic schools in LA allowed to take only those students they choose to take? That in itself would make a huge difference. There are many things I would do if I were very powerful and in charge of Education ... but they are mostly irritated revenge fantasies. In our more sober moments we probably should begin any such discussion by reflecting on the enormous burdens and expectations we place in our schools. Part of the problem is the over-willingness of the schools, of educators, to *accept* these charges and pretend they *can* make the difference & do the job. I guess it is part of the hubris of "the enlightenment" (Brad) that we think *education* solves all problems. OK. Enuf. best wishes, Stephen Straker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Vancouver, B.C. _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
