Hi Kevin,
Thanks for your fine response to my criticisms. You're an admitted
communitarian. You're convinced that �communities are more moral than
individuals� and that communities are more dynamic than individuals even
though Pirsig emphatically states that only an individual can respond to
DQ.
Efforts in this country to organize people in the kinds of communitarian
societies you favor have failed historically, from Utopian experiments of
some early settlers to the Hippie communes of the '60�s. There are some
religious-based communities governed along the lines you suggest like
the Quakers in Pennsylvania, but last I heard their young people were
leaving in droves.
On a broader, national scale you can point to some socialist countries in
Europe as being viable, but many have suffered a brain drain due to high
taxes. Some in this country say Canada is a more moral society than the
U.S., but if you are seriously ill, would you rather be treated by someone
in the Canadian health care system or in the U.S.?
I make no claim that the U.S. system is perfect, but it's emphasis on
individual freedom and "right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness" is
unique in all the world's history. In this century, the liberties our
forefathers took for granted have been eroded away, whether it's forcing
people into a fraudulent Social Security system or telling you where you
can smoke. Your socialistic system is being enacted on a national scale
in this country little by little by the �will of the people,� and I have no doubt
it will win out in the long run because it appeals to the values of order,
safety, security, fairness and compassion. Mary, for example, now thinks
it's a great idea to have some people pay others to stay home and raise
kids. So long as such values are held to be higher than individual
freedom with all its risks, responsibilities (for having kids in the first
place) and inherent hard knocks, your ideas will prevail.
I compliment you on the way you've presented your case. Would that all
young people your age could write so cogently and eloquently. You are a
rarity these days. Given that you�re an exception, could we agree that
the socialistic public education system needs a lot of help?
Platt
MOQ Online Homepage - http://www.moq.org
Mail Archive - http://alt.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/
Unsubscribe - http://www.moq.org/md/index.html
MD Queries - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
