[MD] Food for Thought

[Platt Holden]

> [Platt]
> The last thing a free society needs is a bunch of intellectuals
> practicing social engineering.
> 
> [Case]
> You are right Platt it is better to let social matters be left to blind
> chance. Then we can appeal to Manifest Destiny to glorify our success
> and dismiss our failures.

Take a chance and do nothing is an option that should always be 
seriously considered. There is no cost and a possible beneficial 
outcome. Further, doing nothing allows DQ the freedom to explore.  

> [Platt]
> Intellectuals love to use social laws to enforce their "public interest"
> schemes at the point of a gun, the Social Security system being a
> prominent case in point. (See Pirsig's comments about FDR's
> intellectuals.)  
> 
> [Case}
> What Pirsig points out is that there was uncalled for faith in the
> ability to control that excluded or ignored the role of dynamic change.
> I would say this faith in control stems from a post-Newtonian reliance
> on mechanism where the application of force is regarded as
> deterministic. It lingers. A sign of hope was when Clinton talked about
> "growing" the economy. That expressed to view that systems are more
> organic and opportunistic that the machine view allows. Government
> policies should be design to influence or nurture desired results.
> Applying force only produces and equal and opposite reaction.

The problem is that government in its "nurturing" role cannot help  but 
resort to force or the threat of force.  Nothing "grows" the economy 
faster than when government gets out of the way, like cutting taxes so 
as to allow people to keep more of their own money to spend and invest 
as they choose. That's the DQ way.

Platt