Another thing you wrote: “It no longer does. That is partially due to government, and partially to other agents.” You said this in response to my saying: “Our appeal to peoples decency has to come from within the system that itself provides for us the freedom to scream from the rooftops what we believe to be true.
Well, dsc, other agents are as free as you are to speak their minds, publish their papers, advertisements, etc., as long as they don’t break the law.
After all, this is a free country, whether you would prefer otherwise or not. It’s clear to me that you prefer something else. Have you ever thought of going to someplace where the government runs the show instead of here, where you’re free to say what you please?
If your complaint is really about the fact that you lack the economic resources, hey, that’s the way it is. Economic and political freedom go together, happily.
Is our system “just”? No, I don’t think so. I don’t think a consumer-focused country is a just country. I think justice would be for the world to share its resources and for Americans to not accumulate unneeded products and invest instead in the development of societies in which the people have barely enough to make it from one day to the next. But that’s a different problem.
I would prefer to not trade barbs with you, by the way.
“Well, dsc, other agents are as free as you are to speak their minds, publish their papers, advertisements, etc., as long as they dont break the law.”
One is free to make leftist, PC statements. One is not free to oppose them.
“Its clear to me that you prefer something else.”
If I were playing the game you’re playing, I would come back with, “Well, it’s clear to me that you prefer a country where people are free to shout ‘Fire!’ in a crowded theater, and where kiddy porn is protected speech under the First Amendment.”
However, I accord you the courtesy of presuming that you understand that a line has to be drawn somewhere. We are squabbling over where the line is to be drawn, not whether a line is to be drawn, so why don’t you get off your high horse.
“Have you ever thought of going to someplace...where youre free to say what you please?”
You just got through saying I was free here. Which is it?
“If your complaint is really about the fact that you lack the economic resources, hey, thats the way it is.”
I’ve explained before what the problem is. It seems that you refuse to get it.
“Is our system just? No, I dont think so.”
Of course it is. Justice is a process by which equals are treated equally. What most people mean by “just” is either “as charitable as I would like” or “run according to the whacked out notions of Utopia that Satan has sold us.”
“I think justice would be for the world to share its resources and for Americans to not accumulate unneeded products and invest instead in the development of societies in which the people have barely enough to make it from one day to the next.”
Oh, I see: you subscribe to those whacked-out notions of Utopia that Satan has sold mankind. You really shouldn’t be on this Web site. This is a conservative site.
“I would prefer to not trade barbs with you, by the way.”
But you don’t mind inviting me to leave the country. It would seem that “trade” is the key word in that statement.