| A well- functioning society satisfies basic human needs (that is why we band together). It minimizes friction, and utilizes talent, in pursuit of a surplus which allows for sufficient leisure for an ever- broadening circle of people to pursue activities that allow them to learn and grow. It amasses knowledge, both to satisfy the desire to know, and to apply in solving various problems. It eschews arbitrary rule, and devises means to ensure that government is more deliberative and responsive to the citizenry. Within my framework, that means that our society is superior, in principle and in general, whatever individual defects there might be, to any other so far known. From the vantage point of the moral sensibility of a superior society, tolerance is a good thing, as is freedom of speech and representative government, because they are intrinsic to the success of our society. |
