Don Brayton, wrote:

>To return to my
>point;  if a statement in the UDHR is meant to guarantee food, a job,
>dignity and so on for everyone whether or not they have earned it,
>uninspired humans will gather at the trough to feed and reproduce and
>feed and reproduce and feed ...  obtaining sustenance they have not
>earned and thereby being degraded as self-reliant, responsible life
>entities.  Self-esteem must be earned ... self-esteem itself can not be
>given or forced.
Is your point that grinding poverty is ennobling? If so, the most
psychologically healthy societies should be El Salvador, Peru, etc.
Actually I can see an area where this principle might indeed be justly
employed. Most wealth in this country is inherited, which means that the
inheritor did NOTHING to earn it. Moveover, we can see the pernicious
effects of letting heirs keep this wealth in the examples of the Royal
Family, Donald Trump, the Johnson and Johnson family, etc. Why not levy
an inheritance tax of 100% on this unearned wealth and ennoble these
self-esteem-lacking individuals? Or is your argument that poverty
ennobles *poor* people only? Self-esteem for thee, but not for me?

Your argument assumes that US democracy is currently formal only,
otherwise there would be no need to argue this hypothetical, since the
current distribution of power and privilege would represent the
democratic will of the people. With this assumption I agree. Your
argument then seems to be that participatory democracy would be dangerous
in that we would unleash massive irresponsibility, so it's preferable to
have the purely plebiscitary one we have now, where decisions are made by
"producers" (defined tautologically as anyone with disproportionate
wealth), which the rest of us get to ratify. Is that your position? If
not, what part am I missing?

The argument that, given access to the national bank account, the masses
would promptly bankrupt it, is not new. Karl Marx, FYI, said it well
before Milton Friedman or Ayn Rand. The problem with that argument is
that, during the 80s, the national bank account was clearly in the hands
of the "producers", and THEY bankrupted it. Now we are applauding the
gov't for reaching fiscal solvency--how? By finding 99% of the savings in
programs benefiting the poor, while dishing out capital gains tax
"relief" to the folks who created the deficit in the first place. As
Bertolt Brecht said,

Those who take bread from our mouths
Preach self-restraint...
Those who lead the country off the cliff
Call ruling too difficult
For ordinary men.


y'r obdt. Svt.,

Tresy