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1 posted on 08/01/2002 3:27:45 PM PDT by Tomalak
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To: Tomalak
A fine post, and he gets it almost completely right.

He's left out the most important thing, though, which is trust.

A country may have the most moral and upright populace known to man, but if individuals do not trust that their fellow man wants to -- and most like will -- do the right thing, then the foundation for a small, freedom-protecting state is destroyed. If I cannot trust you, then I must pass a law to prevent you from doing something wrong.

There is indeed a lack of trust in modern society (IMHO it's mostly unwarranted). There are a lot of reasons for it. Ideological propaganda (mostly leftist, but also rightist); the still present worship of "experts"; the presence of a global, rapid-response news media which focuses on the bad apples; entertainment media which actively champions untrustworthiness; and so on.

The issue here is not so much how to restore morality (which most people posess already), but instead to restore trust. That's a tough assignment -- but it is probably true that a return to stigma would go a long way toward doing it.

And, one supposes, a mysterious plague that takes out the Hollywood types (very libertarian they are -- about behavior, at least) who have been so effective in removing stigma from our culture.

132 posted on 08/02/2002 2:02:02 PM PDT by r9etb
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To: Tomalak
This article makes some great points. A free nation must be a moral nation.
191 posted on 08/04/2002 6:47:51 PM PDT by Godel
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