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Reply To: | The philosophy, work & influences of Noam Chomsky |
Date: | Fri, 23 Jan 1998 13:24:08 -0600 |
Content-Type: | TEXT/PLAIN |
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> I think that to resolve the condition you express in your opening line,
> the first area of investigation should be the System of Justice. No
> political or economic plan may execute well without the trust and
> mobility created by a System of Justice which is continuously monitoring
> and directing the use of force and deceit at and among all levels of the
> community. Most people see a System of Justice as the formalized
> rationalization by the rich to bring enforcements on the rest of us
> allowing force and deceit to be employed at will only by the anointed.
> To the extent that this is true, within either large or small political
> boundaries, Justice does not exist.
>
> My remedy is to measure any person or plan against this principle: 'it
> is wrong to use aggressive force or deceit to acquire property and it is
> right to use defensive force or deceit to defend property.'
>
> Yes, many will dispute that there is, in fact, any such thing as
> property, possession or ownership, but that can be argued once we
> establish the above principle vis-a-vis each and every individual's body
> and life.
>
> If your plan ignores this issue, it should be placed on the back burner
> until you have incorporated or proposed an effective System of Justice to
> improve or replace the collapsing one we have.
>
I agree with your statement 100%. But to achieve this, we need two
compnents. One is public officials who do not have to compromise thier
descision making on behalf of "special interests". That, I believe,
the new system put forward provides. Also, reducing the size of a
parliment to a managable group turns it more into "court" to
create laws with an eye toward justice than a debating body where the
best compromise wins.
The second is an ethical transformation. No constitution or system can
ever make people act ethically. This is really the role of both education
and religion. For me personally, I believe that a democratic ethical
system exists based upon the concept of Justice: the Baha'i Faith, of
which I am a member. But then, milage may vary..:)
steve
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