Posted on 05/09/2012 7:03:47 AM PDT by ProgressingAmerica
It's been a long time since I went in-depth into the book Philip Dru: Administrator. While most people concern themselves with hacking away at the tree, I find it instructive to look at the root. Here's what it says in the last two chapters at the end of chapter 5:(unnumbered pages)
If the powerful use their strength merely to further their own selfish desires, in what way save in degree do they differ from the lower animals of creation? And how can man under such a moral code justify his dominion over land and sea?"Until recently this question has never squarely faced the human race, but it does face it now and to its glory and honor it is going to be answered right. The strong will help the weak, the rich will share with the poor, and it will not be called charity, but it will be known as justice. And the man or woman who fails to do his duty, not as he sees it, but as society at large sees it, will be held up to the contempt of mankind.
What's bolded, that's clearly economic justice. Progressives have long stated that charity simply isn't enough, and that sentiment is echoed right here as well, with "not as he sees it, but as society at large sees it". Society will determine how much you should give, because you aren't giving enough, you greedy SOB.
And if you don't? "will be held up to the contempt of mankind" Then we're going to hassle you out of business with all of our institutions, the media, non profits, academia, and etc.
This is exactly how progressives today act. We've all seen it. Philip Dru has been called a blueprint of progressivism, which is certainly also how I see it, and this is just one example. For anybody who's read the book like I have, I think you'll agree with me: Barack Obama is Philip Dru.
The text of the book is in the link above, or you can also get it from Gutenberg.
Or you can listen to my audiobook recording of it. But as I told Glenn when I spoke with him in October, my first couple of recordings weren't very good. But even in Dru, I do speak clearly. It won't take you very long before you start saying to yourself the very same kinds of things I started saying; the reason why I originally started doing all of this: "It's all here." All the answers. Finally, there are answers.
I.e.: economic justice = economic rape.
So true. When the rich prosper, they need all sorts of goods and services. Four years ago, I was working every day and making good money. We had a cleaning crew come in regularly and clean our house. Now work is slow, so the cleaning crew comes in every few months now. The lady who runs it is slow as well. I’ve noticed people mowing their yards who used to hire a lawn service, and more neighbors washing their cars. The rich are not bottomless pits. Most I know are frugal and make wise decisions. If they are overtaxed, they will shelter their income, or live on investments, paying the much lower capital gains rate.
...which gets derided as “trickle-down economics”, with lots of nasty analogies applied.
They just don’t realize that so much of what we enjoy DOES depend on others buying more/better than they need. If we cut all those “obscene luxuries” out of society, and work all down to basics, we’ll find most people have nothing to do and nothing to contribute. Factory farming can generate enough calories, and housing can be cheap & simple, produced by remarkably few laborers; beyond that, what would most do? hence why communism results in destroying most means of efficient production, and kills of large swaths of population: with so few idle, production of basics _must_ be made less efficient so more will have something to do, and those who still don’t have anything to do (since anything “luxurious” is banned for all practical purposes) must be terminated.
This vs. capitalism, where there is incentive to create value in the most unlikely places.
On a related note, I’ve long wanted to hire a live-in housekeeper. I’m not rich, but do have a spare room, spare food, and a little spare cash - enough to get someone a job, room & board, entry into prosperity while enhancing my own. Alas, the “economic justice” types have made it impossible with a proliferation of regulations & welfare.
Yup !
“Economic Justice” means, to me, that intelligence, hard work, risk-taking, and talent are rewarded in the marketplace. To liberals, “Economic Justice” means that everyone makes the same income, irrespective of the above characteristics.
but as society at large sees it
Because that implies a whole ton:
* Charity is not noble or worthy unless it can be done at a quantifiable level that passes muster at a societal level, vice an individual level.
* Society now has a vested interest in controlling all aspects of charity; charity should, in fact, be a duty of the state.
* With society the ultimate judge of charity, what is decided to be charity is left to democratic opinion, which can then be enforced with guns.
In sum, it ain't charity unless the government signs off on it, and guess what, you're going to be charitable or we're going to kill you.
In the twentieth century, there has been a growing influence of irrationalist philosophy, which denies the reliability and efficacy of human reason and which disregards the profound influence that the possession of reason exerts on every aspect of human life. According to such philosophy, there is little to distinguish man from the lower animals.
To the degree that they exist, freedom and the pursuit of material self-interest operating in a rational cultural environment, are the foundation of all the other institutions of capitalism.
Apparently it means that if you’ve managed to save any money, you need to give it to folks that spent theirs on piercings, tattoos, and weed.
True economic justice is the unshakeable observation that no one has any claim on wealth except the one who created it. If that person chooses to pay another for work, that is between those two alone
That’s justice and fairness.
When you look back into the development of the current ‘new world order’ of global socialism (actually pseudo socialism, it’s an oligarchy) Mandel House keeps coming up. League of Nations and elsewhere...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.