This has been the sort of thing you have missed by not following my debate with libertarians:
Message 16139354
As a matter of basic principle, human dignity and the general welfare trumps the assertion of individual rights. If property rights inevitably lead to the immiseration of the proletariat, as the Marxists asserted, they would have been proven unjust. We cannot will the degradation of humanity merely in order to uphold the privileges of a few. It is only because the Marxists were wrong, and adherence to property rights is conducive to economic growth, consumer sovereignty, and the improvement of the common lot, that capitalism commands general assent.......
Now, Bush, in fact, does represent the wishes, hopes, desires of the American people. The reason the election was indecisive was that the electorate had no marked preference, beyond the reliable thirds that make up the core constituencies of either party. They rated Bush higher on decency and honesty, and Gore higher on experience and competence, and never quite resolved their ambivalence. Comparatively few people thought they could not live with either, which is why Bush had pretty strong support, despite the hype about stealing the election, from the beginning. It has always been about who could deliver, primarily, and Americans were not sure...... |
