[Chris] I see you are having fun here, but correct me if I'm wrong - is Platt really attacking the principle of balance in the market on the grounds of the US system? Because - Surprise Buddy! - balance isn't really the word to use there, and it hasn't been even close since Roosevelt's days I'd say.
[Arlo] Right. We've lost balance in a number of areas. We (America) over-regulate in some ways and accept the ills of under-involvement in others. And I think a large part of our troubles in that regard stem from the ridiculously polarized fantasies politicians feed us. The only options, we are told, that exist are 1890's America and 1980's Soviet Union. That's our only choice. No middle ground. No balance. So whatever "balance" is achieved is never "crafted" but an accidental circumstance of Party Power See-Sawing. There are some general questions the American people must answer, and one is "if the free market is best for the distribution of goods and services, does that mean that EVERYTHING is a market commodity?" Marx had lamented that under such a system, human beings become commodities to be used and disposed of with no greater thought than we'd give to our supply of towels or wrenches. [Chris] You have got the American Dream - climb to the top, make it on your own - so what if some people don't make it, starve to death or have to turn to crime to survive in their American Dream - it's liberty! [Arlo] Underlying this is the belief in Social Darwinism held by many in this country. Those who don't make it don't because they are lazy, worthless, bottom-feeding wretches. Let them die off. Decrease the surplus population, as it were. What we have done is replace the Aristocracy with a Capistocracy. This was pointedly evident at the turn of the 20th century. My grandfather used to talk about his childhood a lot, about seeing the mine foreman drop the dead body of a miner right outside the shack where he lived with his wife and kids, and then turn around an post an "evicted" notice on the door (I suppose that was easier than "knocking"). But you know somewhere up on the "Castles of the Hudson" (as Pirsig calls them) the mine owners lived like royalty. But while we've dealt with the more overt egregious sins of this system, the foundational dialogue continues. [Chris] Where is the Quality in that? The Human Quality? [Arlo] Shhh... talk like that will only get you outted like the commie, Marxist you are. Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
