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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: michael97123 who wrote (67722)	1/22/2003 2:26:04 PM
From: Maurice Winn	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 281500

Michael, I risk a lot to better the world. But I hope not to sacrifice anything. I hope to profit. It is not a self-destructive sacrifice I hope to make. I'm not one of Osama's suicide squad, where one gets reward in the hereafter. I just have a broader view of my self-interest than you seem to. As the USA has learned, it's all very well being for King [George II] and Country, but if the barbarians beyond the pale aren't also enjoying a modicum of civilization, they tend to scale the walls and make a bit of a mess. That's especially the case in a globalized world where all the monkeys are in the same cage and there are no bars for the classy monkeys to hide behind. Sure, I can try to defend a little corner for myself, but it's easier and better all around to gang up with the other monkeys who can see a better way and organize some rules of the house, so that the biggest apes don't fight each other for the girls, bananas and funny hat. Gang warfare in a monkey cage is not a pleasant way to pass the day. We don't have to give up anything to have things civilized. We gain. I'm not saying that nations need fade away. On the contrary, I like the idea of many nations in which people could choose to live. Neither need we give up national concerns. Nature is fractalized and so is the human world. We just need to join some bumping together fractal patterns into a bigger one. It's funny how people imagine only bad things. Why on earth should there be a "lowest" common denominator? Why should leadership be by maniacs? Will you chose those? If not, why do you think other people will choose those? No, I'm not prepared to sacrifice my material or other well-being in this pursuit. I intend to profit, along with everyone else. The losers will be the local megalomaniacs and those who profit from conflict and operate by confiscation, rather than voluntary exchange of value. Nuclear weapons suppliers, and other military equipment makers will wish to kill me, and others like me, who are interested in reducing the need for their weapons of mass destruction [that's the USA mostly - they have the best weapons of mass destruction]. I don't see why extending civilization would involve giving up material or other well-being. The reason to do it is to INCREASE material and other well-being. Why would you need to give up democratic institutions to extend material and abstract well-being? Try to think how things can be, rather than how things are. Are things now really as good as you can imagine? Must we must live forever with warring tribal interests with no rules acceptable to the majority of people on earth? A time of abundance and freedom doesn't arrive by accident. They are created by people who are civilized, living in nations which do the creating. The nations won't be disappearing, but their inalienable right to wage war and terror on neighbouring nations will. But only if enough people have an imagination. There isn't much sign of it around these parts. The best they can come up with is "UN bad", "USA good", so, USA rule world ... but none of that habeas corpus nonsense for aliens. It seems to surprise Americans that the aliens aren't necessarily thrilled with that idea. We the Sheeple, will not be denied. Mqurice