infinite individuality

These thoughts were inspired by a selection of quotes from Plato's Republic, in particular, his description of how democratic men become tyrannical men. "Last of all comes the tyrannical man; about whom we have once more to ask, how is he formed out of the democratical? and how does he live, in happiness or in misery?" Our founding fathers and the history of our country has shown that we can apply Reason for the sake of Liberty. We have been flawed the entire time, but we were the first modern people to rid ourselves of the injustice of monarchy. In our Revolution, we rejected the idea of divine-right, of titles and nobility, and replaced them with the authority of property-right. Though the extent of some of those property-rights have been oppressive in their own right, the fact that we rejected the institution of slavery indicates to me that we can correct our property system's flaws. We're still capitalists, but at least our political process has...

I think laws often provide an illusion of fairness which can really only be enacted by those who seek it in their hearts. Unfortunately for us, the rule of money, the market, and law have so far invaded the rule of our consciences that we must all act with complicity in modern economic injustices, or one will be punished. As a Christian, I interpret God's form of fairness and justice as one of mercy and grace. The Golden Rule and Jesus' reminder to not judge lest we be judged are my personal favorite when considering the application of force or violence for the greater good. I have given a lot of thought to applying grace economically through social agreements because I believe a merciful society requires a systematic approach of protecting our rights to access the available means of our survival as well as a fair title to the fruits our labors. The Old Testament describes such merciful justice with the law requiring that the fields (held in common) be harvested in a circle by...

The point of economic activity is to make our lives easier - to economize our time. It is nonsensical to consider its purpose to be anything other than to reduce the efforts for the actors involved. Unfortunately, many of us are Tom Sawyers at heart. It's the human condition to want to take the greatest advantage of everyone else in our society while having to do the least. Worse, we want to be told "good job" for our lack of effort. We want to be given our Lion's share - but this tendency to idleness allows some people to take theirs. We think of ourselves first - it's natural. I mean we were hunters and gatherers just like the other animals for much of our evolution. We developed bonds with our mates, kin, and tribe as we lived in the "Garden of Eden" of Africa. We pondered why we were here, but we lived in a land of plenty. We have always been social creatures and as we grew in number, so did our collective intelligence and the scarcity of resour...