Comments on: NOTA: Addendum

By: domajot

domajot — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 02:39:15 +0000

I endorse the necessity to constantly reassess.
Often, I think, we come to a judgment as a reaction to a current situation, but then we hold on to that broad judgment long after the conditions have changed.
New develpments require a realignment of yesterday's judgments.
There must always be room for new knowledge, new understanding to play a role.

As to changing philosophies or ideologies, isn;t that what evolution is all about?

By: pacatrue

pacatrue — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 21:09:34 +0000

I basically agree, Paul, though I always worry about the expanded involvement of government even as a true long-term investment. One of the reasons that the U.S. has lower voter turn-out than in many places is that one can be very successful here without being involved with government. In many countries around the world, the government is virtually the sole institution of power and wealth, either because they are the only people with power or because they set the agendas and wages for everyone else (how much I make as a teacher/accountant/service rep/skilled worker, etc., is all determined by the government). In such societies, the government may be investing productively in the society and be very well managed, but if all power goes to this well-managed, well-meaning location, it's taken away from other. It can only be healthy when there are competing sources of prestige in a society.

By: PaulSilver

PaulSilver — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 20:48:29 +0000

I also wiggle all over the place depending on which part of the elephants I am looking at.
But I also tend to come back to some core principles that help me adjust my focus.
It seems to me that the better we get at taking care of the least among us the lesser is the burden on our society and the safer we all are.
This brings me to consider taxes as an investment in my wellbeing.
Taxes going to improve health care, education, pensions, clean air and water, etc are simply good long term investments.
My preference would be for the GOP to rebrand themselves as astute fiscal managers who can assure us the best social return for our tax bucks.

By: pacatrue

pacatrue — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 20:45:17 +0000

It's always a balance, of course, between purposeful philosophy, practical effects, and gut morals. If you rely completely on gut morals, doing what is right and wrong, it is easy to wander without direction and be mislead by your prejudices as much as your morals. But of course, you can't just rely on your own political philosophy exclusively because 1) the justification and foundation for the philosophy is one's morals and 2) our theories are easily as flawed as our moral beliefs. One must go back and forth as one can.