Posted on 07/05/2024 9:53:13 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
When Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence that our unalienable rights include life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, he had a very specific definition of happiness in mind. He believed that happiness was the result of living virtuously — that becoming a fully happy human required devoting yourself to service to your fellow beings.
His words galvanized generations of Americans to seek out their own personal well-being. Yet the happiness we pursue today is a far cry from that which Jefferson envisioned. It’s putting us in conflict with ourselves, and with others.
Modern Americans have been conditioned to believe that happiness is something that we get for ourselves, by ourselves, through achieving material wealth, personal success and individual gratification. I call this belief Old Happy. It is powered by systems of individualism, capitalism and domination that have fueled our culture for generations.
Growing up in this individualistic culture, we are taught to see ourselves as separate from other people. We’re taught that happiness comes from focusing more and more on ourselves and that we can perfect and grow this happiness through personal achievement. This does not work. In one 2015 study, researchers tried to understand why Americans who aggressively pursued happiness were, in fact, more likely to be lonely and depressed. It was because they believed that focusing on themselves was the secret to finding happiness.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Forced altruism, which involves coercively taking from some individuals to provide unearned benefits to others, would violate multiple key criteria for an objective law in a rational society:
Not grounded in observable reality
There is no observable, empirical basis in reality to justify forcibly expropriating the products of an individual's effort to give to others who did not earn it. It contradicts the undeniable fact that individuals have distinct efforts, values, and resultant outcomes.
Violations of valid philosophical principles
Forced altruism violates the bedrock philosophic axiom that individual human beings have sovereign minds/bodies and inalienable rights, including property rights over the fruits of their labor. It treats people as mere means to others' ends.
Severed from derivation of property rights
Property rights are derived from an individual's application of their reason and effort to transform nature's resources for their own use. Forced altruism severs this integral mind-effort-product connection.
Contradicts human nature and rational self-interest
As volitional beings, humans rationally act to gain values that sustain their lives. Forced altruism negates this reality by forcibly taking the product of their effort aimed at their own interests.
Destroys incentives for productive effort
By divorcing effort from reward, policies of forced altruism cripple the incentives for economic productivity and wealth creation necessary for human flourishing.
Not universally applicable via objective criteria
Forced altruism discriminates by subjectively deeming some individuals as unfairly "privileged" to justify taking their property for others deemed more deserving based on no objective standard.
Logically incoherent and self-contradictory
Forced altruism claims to be advocating selflessness while itself employing the supremely selfish act of forcible expropriation against peaceful individuals to achieve its aims. Rather than being derived from observations about reality and valid ethical principles, forced altruism stems from non-objective emotional premises that individuals do not have inviolate rights and that need entitles some to the product of others' efforts.
It not only violates the specific criteria for an objective law, but contradicts the entire philosophical base required for genuinely objective laws aimed at human flourishing - rational self-interest, individual rights, private property, and rewarding productive effort.
Forced altruism is thus a fundamentally irrational, anti-reality construct that could find no place in a legal system guided by observational facts and logically validated ethical principles. It is antithetical to the objectivity defining a proper system of laws for a rational society.
Pure, unadulterated, secular, marxist, gobbledygook crap.
You just have to learn how to love Big Brother. Easier. You have to realize that you love Big Brother. Such joy and contentment you have never known until you know how awesome Big Brother is.
The fight of freedom is inexorably linked to the fight of faith.
I don’t believe liberty from government coercion can be sustained without faith in the God of the Bible.
A guest preacher spoke a few weeks ago during our “Fruits of the Spirit” sermon series.
Part of it he said something like:
So I’m having breakfast with my 10-year old grand daughter and she asked me if I was happy. Boy - talk about a discerning kid! I told her that I don’t do happy very well. But I AM Joyful!
And then he went on to talk about the differences, and how we can still be joyful in spite of not being happy.
I know a guy that teaches a class at UCLA on “How to be Happy”.
1. THROW AWAY your Television.
2. Disregard and take as Propaganda anything uttered by anyone in the Entertainment Industry.
3. Life is short, the only reason to ever bitch and complain is if you are a Hollywood Actor or trying to become one.
4. Two or three near Death Experiences will definitely change your attitude towards life.
reminds me of their Guv Gruesome Newsome
“for entertainnment purposes only”
“”If we contribute our knowledge, talents and humanity to our collective happiness rather than the pursuit of personal wealth, power and fame, personal happiness would likely also be achieved.””
Sounds a lot like “From each according to their abilities, to each according to their needs”
The best ethics for any society is “take care of yourself first”. If everybody did that there would be very few people in need of help.
Next take care of the people closest to you as you see fit, if they did their best to take care of themselves but had limitations that kept them from doing so.
After that work you way to neighbors, friends etc.
All of this should be on a strictly self motivated, voluntary way. (ie private charity). There should never be government “charity”. Government charity starts with theft, so it’s basically a fencing operation camouflaged as altruism.
I liken it to the concept of an airline cockpit depressurization at altitude. You have to take care of yourself first and make sure you get the mask on your face. Then, you attend to your immediate family members. Then, and only then, would you attempt to help people you don't know.
There is NOTHING evil or selfish about that. Take care of yourself and your family first.
And that is how a prosperous and generous society should be.
We need to make sure our needs and those of our family are addressed, and then we can direct time, energy, resources, and money to help people who are in trouble.
Forcing people to deviate from that at the point of a real gun, or a figurative financial gun, is Tyranny. Evil.
That is Collectivism.
Of course, we all know, from watching Collectivists in the 20th Century murder in cold blood hundreds of millions of their own citizens, that this desire to make all of society somehow beholden to all others in that society, is no more than a mask for evil power grabs.
And the collectivists we see today, like this absolutely imbecilic author and those who agree with her, reinforce that.
The sad part is, dumb douchebags like this author will use their influence to act as useful idiots, and are tools for those who really understand what collectivism is all about.
Total Tyranny.
Exactly.
"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion... Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
On this, Jim W N, we agree wholly.
I admit, I don’t often view it in that fashion, but you may be on to something there I have not considered, perhaps that has something to do with the “Four Turnings” that has been embodied in the quote from Michael Hopf that encapsulates it:
“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.”
It is true that there are people unsuited to Freedom, others who are unsuited to Prosperity, and some who are suited to neither. We know this from human experience.
Unfortunately, for the greater good (in the same way not everyone is suited to benefit from the 2nd Amendment) we have to make both personal freedom and economic freedom available to EVERYONE, or...it is all just words.
I struggle sometimes, when I examine gun violence, it is almost wholly part and parcel of Leftists who have the right as Americans, but do not have the maturity or impulse control to avoid misusing their right of defense to tyrannize others and rob them of their wealth, their health, or their lives.
I sometimes feel that Leftists should not be allowed to own weapons. But I know that is just a knee jerk reaction to the evil, violence, and tyranny of the Left. For my right to self defense to exist, all must have it as well.
It is why I believe everyone should be able to carry firearms, and openly, too. And that includes the scumbags on the Left.
Unfortunately.
You wrote....”my personal happiness goal is to avoid people who’s happiness is based on taking my peace of mind away. I know...it’s a simple thing but I want it anyway.”
Yep...I agree. Therefore I am content.
Self interest is a gift from God. Self interest is what keeps us from reaching for rat poison for dinner. Self interest is DISCRIMINATION (Freedom of Choice). Freedom and self interest is REALLY what made America great.
The Left has tried to lay a major guilt trip about self interest calling it “greed”. But there’s a difference between self interest and greed and is is NOT up to government to decide that difference. It is up to individuals in the voluntary cooperation between buyers and sellers in the marketplace FREE from government interference.
The truth is, the greatest greed by far is in government where, unlike the free market which is voluntary cooperation, the government can FORCE their greed upon you and does so as much as they can.
Good post-I fully agree. I also note that this is why capitalism is successful-it harnesses that normal and healthy inclination to self-interest.
Collectivism is at odds with, and works against human nature.
Preach it.
I’ll be happier when leftist busybodies leave me alone.
As much as possible, the Right needs to exchange the term “capitalism” (a Marxist term) for “Free Market Economy” which plainly describes a free economy: the marketplace free from government interference which results in the economic wealth of that society and nation as Adam Smith said in his famous book, “The Wealth of Nations”.
The Free Market Economy is freedom in action. Again, freedom along with faith, not government, is what made America strong, wealthy, powerful, and great. Can’t say it too much because too few are saying it and it needs to be shouted from the rooftops.
Cheers.
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