Colossus vs. Leviathan: Why the government cannot suppress the silent majority »
Posted By aic4ever 1 month, 2 weeks ago in Political OpinionThere is a Colossus present that may find itself great enough to challenge even the Leviathan whose inertia seems unstoppable. This is the Colossus made up of what was once referred to as the "silent majority," a massive group of people who believe it is incorrect to assume it is the government's job to do anything other than protect its citizens, and that a government's citizens are not protected by being given free rides, having their will and self-reliance eroded as an unintended, yet inevitable consequence.
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Tasine1 month, 2 weeks ago
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Quoted within the article says a whole lot!
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" It is true that the virtues which are less esteemed and practiced now - independence, self-reliance, and the willingness to bear risks, the readiness to back one's own conviction against a majority, and the willingness to voluntary cooperation with one's neighbors - are essentially those on which the working of an individualist society rests. Collectivism has nothing to put in their place, and in so far as it has already destroyed them it has left a void filled by nothing but the demand for obedience and the compulsion of the individual to do what is collectively decided to be good."
F.A. Hayek, The Road to Serfdom -
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marry90876Comment removed: Spammer
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marry90876Comment removed: Spammer
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Temlakos1 month, 2 weeks ago
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I appreciate the article--up to a point.
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I've even begun to re-examine my own commitment to "war and empire," mainly because I've seen government foul that up just as badly as the "social spending" side.
But: how do you deal with a world full of Hitlers and Putins and Bin Ladens, the sort of guys who would kill an American, just because he *is* an American, with no more thought than we would give to buying a quart of milk? And what can stop an empire, *other than* another empire?-
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fjgalt1 month, 2 weeks ago
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Americans weren't once hated. It has occurred since WWII when our government decided to become the world policeman, overthrowing democratically elected leaders who weren't pro-American and installing dictators who were anti-Communist.
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The task became the defeat of Communism (Soviet Russia and Communist China) and, like our adversaries, we played dirty to win. Russians were disliked and hated more than Americans. But we made enemies. For example, Vietnam, halfway around the world, was considered a danger to the U.S. while communist Cuba, 90 miles away, wasn't. (The war gave pres. Johnson the power to ram through his Great Welfare Society programs and Medicare.)
Still, even today, citizens in other countries such as Iran generally like and admire Americans. It's their governments, emboldened by their oil reserves and high prices because we refuse to drill our own large reserves, that enable them to conduct terrorism.
The answer is to stop meddling in other countries' affairs, pull our troops out of the 130 countries in which they're stationed, and return to the philosophy of our founders.
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fjgalt1 month, 2 weeks ago
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"Education of the masses on both sides is the task at hand."
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Will there be enough time to teach and inform generations of dumbed-down, critically-thinking damaged citizens who were taught in our government-run schools that capitalism and Liberty are bad and government is the answer to our problems?
If the war for Liberty is to be won, education is the key. That's why novels like Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead are important. In a dramatic presentation, the philosophy of Rights, Liberty, and Man's moral justification for Happiness and living on Earth can be demonstrated and taught in a few days. Once inspired to read further, books such as The Road to Serfdom, Capitalism the Unknown Ideal and others can presents the ideas formally.-
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awongscreen1 month, 2 weeks ago
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You are correct that education is the hope for a better world, but I have to disagree that it will lead to the approval of capitalism.
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I myself was once a great supporter of capitalism and hate communism. As I aged and get myself more educated on the issues, I found out that the idea of communism has its own merit and it is not bad. The communism I do not like before is not communism but rather dictatorship dressed up as communism. Those distorted communism are more like the capitalism we see today. They are both based on selfishness and dictatorship, against liberty and democracy.
I do hope that education will correct the free capitalism we have for the past decades. The data shows that conservatives are on average less educated. That is why they believe in all the distorted and misleading views preached by right wing propaganda. I know that is a fact as I once was among these people.
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