[MD] So cometh MOQ, what next?

[craigerb at comcast.net]

[Case] 
> The only measure of moral rightness is the 
> continuation of the society. Aztec society HAD THE RIGHT to build giant 
> pyramids, march 20,000 people up to the top and rips their hearts out by 
> hand. Various societies across the global have, at one time or another, SEEN 
> IT AS MORALLY RIGHT to feast on their neighbors. 

Case,
Notice your shift from HAVING THE RIGHT to SEEING something AS MORALLY RIGHT.
That some society SEES something AS MORALLY RIGHT doesn't mean it is.  

[Case] 
> In the late 1700's the framers of the US constitution saw it as morally 
> right to legitimize the sale and ownership of people of African descent. 
 
Only a minority (if any) of the framers saw slavery as morally right.  Those in the South supported
slavery either for economic reasons or because they feared racial integration.  Those in the North
failed to challenge slavery because they wanted to maintain the union with the South & did
not see any politically feasible way to end slavery.  (see "Founding Brothers").


[Case]    
> When Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence about self evidence 
> and all men being created equal he was not stating anything like "it is 
> obvious" that all men are created equal, because obviously, they are not....It is not obvious 
> that all men are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights. 
> These rights obviously are alienable. 

You need to stop claiming that your view is obvious & instead provide reasons for it.
That a person's right is violated does not mean it wasn't his/her right.

[Case]
> But all of this high flown talk about individual rights and the rights of 
> women and immigrants and children and strangers is really a modern luxury. 
>...People did not think about what they ought to do 
> so much as what they had to do. 

You are very ignorant of the history of thought on this one.


[Case] 
> Society, whatever that may be, is able to continue to the extent that its 
> members comply with its standards.

This need an argument.  Sounds like a stagnant society to me.

[Case]
> I believe that when the members accept 
> social standards willfully and joyfully the society is better able to send 
> its seeds into the future. 

So when you reach the top of the stairs of that pyramid, just before your heart is ripped out,
be sure to smile, smile, smile.
Craig