From: Lee Corbin (lcorbin@tsoft.com)
Date: Sun Dec 08 2002 - 20:42:35 MST
Roh H writes
> You have that exactly right. DeSoto chronicles the
> whole process, which really wasn't complete until
> the end of the 19th century.
>
> You know, Lee, I don't think folks have much of a
> grasp of how hard we worked to make this country
> what it is
How hard did you work? I, for one, hardly lifted a
finger. To put it mildly, I'm having a hard time
relating to your remark, and to the similar one in
the previous email.
(Unlike you, however, I'm sadly a man without a
country, but do try to appreciate what I can.)
I'm unsure that the Americans worked any harder than
anyone else to keep their heads above water (as a
society), and probably had to work a lot less. It
really helped them, the white ones at least, that
cunningly placed oceans made it almost impossible
for large well-equipped armies to ever invade them.
(Clearly the awesome exception to what I am saying
is the frightful tasks of 1776-1783 and 1812-1815
in warding off the huge well-supplied and very
skillful armies of the a then very great super-power.
But since then?)
> and even less of an idea about what it took to
> make a great country.
You've really got that right. But there are damned few
people, IMO, who appreciate (whatever their position on
the political spectrum) that it is *FAR* from obvious
just what it is that makes a country able to supply its
citizens with progressive government, a high standard
of living, and peace, i.e., to make that country great.
Evidently the best progress towards documenting such an
understanding can be found in the works of Hayek, De Soto,
and perhaps a brand-new (to me) author, Mancur Olson,
who in his books "Power and Prosperity (Outgrowing
Communist and Capitalist Dictatorships" is to me the
first "trans-Libertarian" author who has the most clearly
seen the limitations of libertarian thinking in the real
world.
The people of Western democracies can by no means be
said to have an understanding of the causes of their
prosperity; frequent polls always show that they'd
vote away their liberties in an instant if only the
mechanisms to do so were in place. As for power, the
people of the West are slowing making their governments
more and more powerful, relegating even personal ethical
and safety concerns to their big-Mommy (elected) overlords.
Lee
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