[MD] Are we the people stupid?

[Platt Holden]

Mike:
 
> A low view of human nature is not exclusively a leftist
> characteristic, as Platt would like to make out for his partisan
> purposes. Thomas Hobbes, one of the most prominent conservative
> philosophers, held a very low view of human nature.

I doubt if Hobbes influences today's conservatives. His
view that humans are mere mechanisms lacking spirt is more a leftist 
view, as was his idea that a single monarch (dictator) should rule. 

> A measure of
> suspicion of human nature also underpins capitalism, which is
> considered valuable because it gives 'layabouts' an incentive to work,
> when they could otherwise leech from the welfare state.

Capitalism is considered valuable because "A free market is a Dynamic 
institution." (Lila, 17)

> On the other
> hand, communism is often held to be based on a view of human nature that
> is 'too idealistic'. This may be true at the present time, and it may
> explain why large-scale communist experiments such as the Soviet Union
> have so far tended to descend into brutal dictatorship.
 
When you say "This may be true at the present time" do you mean that in 
the future communism will become the favored political and economic 
system? 

Platt