RE: Getting our priorities straight
And this is all that Strother and I have been saying all along.
No, it isn't. What you have been saying all along is that some collective authority should preempt free choice and free will and force people to perform to your vision of a perfect society. What you have been saying all along is that people cannot be left to their own devices to do the right thing, so it is up to an anointed elite to enforce your vision on the benighted. And that is the fundamental difference between a conservative and a liberal.
Earthly wealth must be kept in check.
By whom? It is up to individuals to accomplish this on their own and in their own time. Your path to the kingdom of God does not include dragging others along with you. You will not be judged by how many of the benighted you forced into the path of righteousness, this makes you no better than the religious zealots you decry. You say you follow the teachings of Jesus, so be it. His teachings do not include an amoral collectivist authority that robs Peter to pay Paul.
When the desire to make more and more money begins to consume you, it's time to re-evaluate your priorities.
Indeed it is. It is also time to re-evaluate your priorities when you begin down the path of forcing others to re-evaluate theirs. Lead by example, but do not attempt to lead by force. The socialist state leads by force and is, therefore, immoral.
I am concerned for a society that values material goods over happiness.
And this is where the trouble begins. First, your concern grows to a desire for action. When you discover that "society" is completely amorphous, the only alternative is to anthropomorphize it and turn it into some malleable entity. As soon as that occurs, you must then force the elements that are amorphous into a known state in order to deal with it as a concrete entity. These are the first steps on the road to fascism and totalitarianism.
Your concern is admirable and one I share. What I do not share is your desire to relieve that concern through the auspices of government. Christ did not come and force people to see the light. He showed them the door and left it to them to knock.
What I also do not share is your antipathy toward capitalism. You have transmuted a working and completely moral and ethical system into one of degeneracy, solely on the basis of anecdotal evidence. Every day, millions of ordinary people go about the business of capitalism to their own and their neighbors' mutual benefit. This activity coalesces into a general benefit to multiple societies and collectives of humans. Yet because a few would use the system for ends not matching your vision, you would douse the entire system, regardless of your assertions to the contrary. A moral and ethical system of capitalism can only exist in a context of complete free choice. As soon as an anointed elite seek to preempt that choice through government regulation, the entire ethos of the system begins to collapse. Those who would pervert the system to their own ends are undeterred by the ineptitude of a one-size-fits-all bureaucracy. Yet those who would have operated within the confines of an ethical system are driven by onerous interference to subversion of their own to varying degrees. It is the anointed elite who have created the current degenerate system, not the so-called "robber barons" who you and other liberals regularly demonize. The sooner we begin to dismantle the overbearing and intrusive system under which we live, the sooner we can return to the ethical and moral system that fits the vision you and I both share.
No, it isn't. What you have been saying all along is that some collective authority should preempt free choice and free will and force people to perform to your vision of a perfect society. What you have been saying all along is that people cannot be left to their own devices to do the right thing, so it is up to an anointed elite to enforce your vision on the benighted. And that is the fundamental difference between a conservative and a liberal.
Earthly wealth must be kept in check.
By whom? It is up to individuals to accomplish this on their own and in their own time. Your path to the kingdom of God does not include dragging others along with you. You will not be judged by how many of the benighted you forced into the path of righteousness, this makes you no better than the religious zealots you decry. You say you follow the teachings of Jesus, so be it. His teachings do not include an amoral collectivist authority that robs Peter to pay Paul.
When the desire to make more and more money begins to consume you, it's time to re-evaluate your priorities.
Indeed it is. It is also time to re-evaluate your priorities when you begin down the path of forcing others to re-evaluate theirs. Lead by example, but do not attempt to lead by force. The socialist state leads by force and is, therefore, immoral.
I am concerned for a society that values material goods over happiness.
And this is where the trouble begins. First, your concern grows to a desire for action. When you discover that "society" is completely amorphous, the only alternative is to anthropomorphize it and turn it into some malleable entity. As soon as that occurs, you must then force the elements that are amorphous into a known state in order to deal with it as a concrete entity. These are the first steps on the road to fascism and totalitarianism.
Your concern is admirable and one I share. What I do not share is your desire to relieve that concern through the auspices of government. Christ did not come and force people to see the light. He showed them the door and left it to them to knock.
What I also do not share is your antipathy toward capitalism. You have transmuted a working and completely moral and ethical system into one of degeneracy, solely on the basis of anecdotal evidence. Every day, millions of ordinary people go about the business of capitalism to their own and their neighbors' mutual benefit. This activity coalesces into a general benefit to multiple societies and collectives of humans. Yet because a few would use the system for ends not matching your vision, you would douse the entire system, regardless of your assertions to the contrary. A moral and ethical system of capitalism can only exist in a context of complete free choice. As soon as an anointed elite seek to preempt that choice through government regulation, the entire ethos of the system begins to collapse. Those who would pervert the system to their own ends are undeterred by the ineptitude of a one-size-fits-all bureaucracy. Yet those who would have operated within the confines of an ethical system are driven by onerous interference to subversion of their own to varying degrees. It is the anointed elite who have created the current degenerate system, not the so-called "robber barons" who you and other liberals regularly demonize. The sooner we begin to dismantle the overbearing and intrusive system under which we live, the sooner we can return to the ethical and moral system that fits the vision you and I both share.
posted by Anonymous | 9:55 AM
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