In adding to my previous email here, let me put it this way: I didn't come to this group to "radically restructure society". I came here to give my ideas of why society is the way it is, why the economy and government is the way it is. Why human nature is, the way it is, from a libertarian-leaning, Austrian Economics perspective. (i.e., Austrian Economics being the most popular branch of economics for most Libertarians).
My other reason for coming here is that you\wrote a critique on Libertarianism a few years ago. I am not saying I disagree or agree with that critique, but since Libertarianism means a lot to me, and I saw that critique, I thought I'd expand on it. I wouldn't have discussed it here, if you didn't write that critique. Though I am very much into libertarian-leaning-ism, and Austrian Economics, I doubt many of us who are into it are putting up protest signs saying "Make the world libertarian or Austrian Economist NOW!". I am sure just about none of us, are expecting the world to change to libertarian or Austrian Economic ways in lifetimes, let alone overnight. Therefore, what these 2 disciplines are, to me, are, are mainly schools of thought. They are two tools, of many, that give us an understanding of today's realities, of why things are the way they are, of human nature in general. Everyone has their set of "shoulds", their own ideals of how society, economics and government "should" be, but most of those ideals are far from today's realities. It's normal to have these ideals, it's part of human nature. So what I offer is more of an understanding of reality through my lens. I am perfectly aware that my understanding is one of many. I know there are understandings that are very different from mine, and I try to be respectful of the variety of understandings that are out there, with rational discourse. Best, Vik On Sat, Nov 22, 2025 at 11:58 AM Beaches & Nature fan < [email protected]> wrote: > > "I do not believe it is possible to “cut back” on government in any > substantial way without radically restructuring society." > > Sure, so what I would add then, is, that's probably how it is about most > people's belief systems, be it political, economic or religious. In other > words, ideally, even subconsciously, we want the world to function in the > ideals we believe in. But that's not going to happen in any substantial > way without radically restructuring society. So certainly, from this much > broader standpoint, I agree with what you are saying. > > Therefore, it also follows with what you mentioned about having a mindset > of generosity. Oh how I wish more people could have this attitude! The > world surely needs more compassion and generosity. But trying to cultivate > this, among many hundreds of millions of Americans, and billions of people > worldwide, is quite a daunting task. But, we can have hope! Without hope, > all this is useless. > > And to add to that vein, none of what we are discussing here, should ever > stop us from having our beliefs, standing for them, and not backing down > from them, which I certainly don't, on anything I've said. At the same > time, we should have open,rational civil discourse about our beliefs, > without trying to impose our beliefs on anyone else. > > And at the end of the day, where do these political, economic, > religious beliefs, etc. come from? They come from each individual. So in > terms of the bigger - actually ginormous, - picture of society, that's all > we can ultimately work on - ourselves, each individual at a time. Well as > the great Confucious once said "A journey of a thousand miles begins with > a single step." > > > > On Sat, Nov 22, 2025 at 10:47 AM Ernest Prabhakar < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> Dear Vik, >> >> If we disagree about anything, it is that you appear to wish we could >> just cut back or stop growing. I must correct you on your >> interpretation here. I only said to cut back on government. >> >> >> Ah, let me be more precise then: >> >> I do not believe it is possible to “cut back” on government in any >> substantial way without radically restructuring society. >> >> If you have a concrete proposal otherwise, I’d love to hear it. >> >> In my view, government (all identity, in fact) is a complicated >> negotiation between various internal and external parts. >> >> Like software, it is much, much easier to tack on a new feature to solve >> an immediate problem that rewrite an entire stack other people are still >> using. >> >> Also, most rewrites fail, or make other things worse. Yet, sometimes we >> reach our generative limit and have no option left but to try something >> different… >> >> E >> >> -- >> -- >> Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community < >> [email protected]> >> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism >> Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org >> >> --- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To view this discussion visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/RadicalCentrism/2D0CA6A1-E529-424C-BB7D-E05CB149A1B8%40gmail.com >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/RadicalCentrism/2D0CA6A1-E529-424C-BB7D-E05CB149A1B8%40gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. 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