From: J. R. Molloy (jr@shasta.com)
Date: Tue Nov 28 2000 - 11:10:17 MST
Damien Broderick wrote,
> The implication is that people en masse are likely to abandon all
decency
> and history and respect for each other,
I think it goes beyond implication. People *do* en masse abandon all
decency and history and respect for each other. It happened in Germany (a
very highly civilized country I'm told) and I don't believe the US is
immune to this mass socio-genic illness.
>a rather strange opinion in a list
> where the market (a device for summing the expressed values of all
players)
> is held in highest regard.
Difference is that it doesn't cost anything to vote. (In Australia it
costs *not* to vote.) If people had to pay directly for government, all
ideas of democracy would instantly change.
>True, most markets are highly asymmetrical in
> the purchasing power of different individuals, so if it's thought to
lead
> to a superior outcome than ochlocratic summations presumably the richer
you
> are the more moral, decent, thoughtful, prudent, insightful, just,
kindly
> and so on you are as well.
That's right. Poor people can't afford the luxury of moralism that rich
folks advertise.
"It's illegal for both the beggar and the billionaire to steal a loaf of
bread" but the fact that a billionaire doesn't steal a loaf of bread
doesn't make him as moral as the beggar who also suppresses the urge to
steal it.
Pure democracy is based on the false premise of equality. The truth is
that we are not all created equal, and even if we were, we sure don't stay
that way.
Stay hungry,
--J. R.
3M TA3
"It is enough that the people know there was an election.
The people who cast the votes decide nothing.
The people who count the votes decide everything." --Joseph Stalin
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