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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Father Terrence who wrote (21715)	5/17/1998 11:52:00 PM
From: epicure	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

Hmmm. Where to begin? Well for starters, who are the people who benefit through no value of their own? Please describe these people. And what would you do with them? And what kind of society would we live in after you got done doing whatever it is you think you would like to do? Mob rule? Well, we live in a democracy- isn't that the closest thing to freedom? There is really no better example of pure democracy than a lynch mob. Those are people who really know what they want and have voted with their actions. Rule of the people can be a frightening thing. That is why I like the minority protections (and I mean minority in the sense of not being in the majority of thought- not in the sense of an individual of some particular skin color) offered by the Constitution. Democracy tempered, becomes representative government. Is it pure- NO. But pure things rarely stay pure. Like capitalism. And pure things are rarely as salubrious as people think they will be. It is EXTREMIST to believe that any one way is the right and only way.

To: Father Terrence who wrote (21715)	5/18/1998 2:11:00 AM
From: Krowbar	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 108807

FT, Do you think that it would be proper for the Mexican government to step in and halt the burning of forests and crops, or would that be tampering with the individual's rights? Should our government get involved? Del

To: Father Terrence who wrote (21715)	5/28/1998 2:02:00 PM
From: Grainne	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

<<Last great example was the famous "Brain Drain" wherein many of England's best fled the island to keep their wealth and what they produced from the hands of the "redistribution of wealth" socialists during the 1960s. I believe the tax rate at that time was upwards of 90%.>> Terrence, confiscatory tax rates in England were probably misguided, but really affected only the very rich. When tax rates become that skewed, people leave, thus taking all the creativity and imagination which spark a balanced, vibrant economy with them. I think a valuable lesson was learned, and England has moved back towards a more moderate tax structure. Of course, at the same time they have recently enacted laws that take away the voting power of the House of Lords. Good idea! England is actually a good example of why your most extreme ideas make little practical sense. For many centuries, noblemen had all the power, which they inherited from their own families, who of course were the most ruthless in violating the rights of others. The years of socialism England finally went through to correct this imbalance were drab and painful, but certainly in retrospect seem necessary to bring some balance. The class system paralyzed their society.