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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lane3 who wrote (61162)	10/4/2002 6:10:04 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

If you think enlightened and long-term, it's all but impossible to condone anything that would cause you to feel bad about yourself. But why would you feel bad about yourself? For that matter if you add the word "enlightened" it seems to me that you are adding other moral ideas to the mix besides pure self interest. Thinking long term also brings in the good of society. If you're thinking long term, then you have to consider whether or not you're contributing to the kind of society you want to live in. Rampant embezzlement isn't good for society. Even a young, strong, quick man who could easily take whatever he wanted couldn't justify that long term because as he gets older, he will grow weaker. Thats one of the reasons I set the hypothetical up the way I did. No one would know about it so others would not be encouraged to do the same. And even for the person doing it they are only doing it because in this one case it is really easy and safe and they need the money bad. I wonder what you think (and perhaps what you or someone else thinks Rand would think) of changing the idea from acting in your own self interest (even with the possible requirements of "enlightened" and "long term") to acting according to principles that generally support your self interest. In either of my hypotheticals it might be in the persons self interest to take the money. But it might not be in his self interest to act like that all the time and it certainly would not be in his self interest if everyone acted like that. Tim