Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: Post5203

Good one.

Check this out. Short and sweet.

http://spectator.org/articles/64421/charles-koch%E2%80%99s-human-flourishing-project

“.....What’s interesting about Charles Koch’s story is that he didn’t begin as a flint-eyed Randist, concerned only with his selfish desires. Just the opposite. His mentor was Adam Smith, not the Adam Smith of The Wealth of Nations but the younger Smith who wrote The Theory of Moral Sentiments, and who said that “to feel much for others, and little for ourselves, that to restrain our selfish, and to indulge our benevolent affections, constitutes the perfection of human nature.”

What the young Koch sought to understand was how to promote societal well-being. And what he learned was that socialist methods weren’t the answer. Instead, he found better teachers in thinkers such as Friedrich Hayek and Tom Sowell. The ultimate goal wasn’t to produce the biggest, wealthiest Koch Industries, but to discover the well-springs of a happy society. Koch pursued socialist ends through capitalist means.

What this meant was a system of government and of laws that permits people to flourish—a system that clearly defines and protects property rights, that enforces bargains, and that allows people to speak freely. Not surprisingly, this has put him at odds with the progressive Left, from Obama on down to the meanest little guttersnipe on Salon, Kos, or Media Matters. In particular, it’s been Koch’s efforts to spread his message about how governments can promote human flourishing that have enraged the Left, with its programs for campaign finance “reform.” What reforming our politics means, for that lot, is removing the taint of conservative ideas in politics, in a country in which every other institution—the media, the universities, public schools—tilts Left. Scratch a liberal, get a fascist. And if the Supreme Court defends First Amendment rights of free speech, why the solution is to change the Court’s make-up, as Hillary Clinton promises to do. After all, with her it’s personal. The Citizens United case was all about Hillary: The Movie......”


21 posted on 10/21/2015 2:31:00 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies ]


To: Cincinatus' Wife

I.e. he rediscovered the idea of blessings.


25 posted on 10/21/2015 2:36:16 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies ]

To: Cincinatus' Wife

My new tag line: Scratch a liberal, get a fascist.


188 posted on 10/21/2015 4:47:15 AM PDT by Garvin (Scratch a liberal, get a fascist)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson