[MD] Value and the Individual

[Platt Holden]

Chris:

> > [Chris]
> >> Because money, or capitalism really, is like the giant. Not
> >> concerned about the compounds that makes it run. And so a free capitalist
> >> system isn't concerned about human suffering and injustice, even though
> >> some of the humans in that system may be, and so it isn't going to fix
> >> those things.
> 
> [Platt]
> > What other system has done more to relieve human suffering and injustice?
> 
> Well, that's not the question is it? the question is why we should keep an
> imperfect system.

There may be a better system than a free market. But since it's more 
Dynamic that other systems,  I wonder what a better system might be. I'm 
open to suggestions. But most suggestions I've heard involve government 
interference in the free market so that some of its Dynamism is lost, and 
evolution suffers.. 

> [Chris]
> >> Thus we modify the system, control it so that those things -
> >> injustice and suffering can be dealt with. The system comes to be more in
> >> the hands of humans that above them.

Depends on whose hands you want to put your life in doesn't it? Personally
I prefer liberty over someone putting a gun to my head to force me to give 
to her pet cause.   

> [Platt]
> > The nice thing about a free market is that you can choose to participate
> > in or not. You can always become a policeman, a soldier, a government
> > bureaucrat or a bum.
> 
> Let me ask you this - does a free market capitalist system have to be in
> combination with democracy?

Good question. If you mean a pure democracy, the answer is no. Who wants 
the guarantee of free speech to be revoked by majority vote? Even a 
democratic republic as in the U.S. is beginning to show signs of trouble, 
especially since the "intellectuals" took over beginning with President 
Woodrow Wilson.  Voters have discovered that they can vote themselves 
financial benefits by electing representatives who promise to soak the rich 
and redistribute their income for the "public good." We're seeing the 
results of this shift from liberty to dependency in the appeals being made 
by radical left in our current election process. 

The answer? I sure don't know. But I would recommend several steps.  First, 
strong court protection of our Bill of Rights guaranteeing freedom of 
speech, of the press, of religion, etc. Second, term limits whereby 
representatives have less incentive to spend taxpayers' money on boondoggle 
programs. Third, a gradual move from taxes to use fees. Finally, a rebirth 
of the sense of individual responsibility and the "gumption" that built 
this country and made it a beacon of light to immigrants and a power  to 
defeat the forces of evil in the world. 

Regards,
Platt