From: kharin (hidden@lucifer.com)
Date: Wed Jul 10 2002 - 03:08:00 MDT
"The United States of America offers economic prosperity, economic freedom, and a government which does care about them."
Bearing in mind Ben's observation concerning the respective sizes of the aid and defense budgets, I think we also need to examine this 'homo economicus' argument; people are defined by a number of factors of which their economic relations are but one. Cultural, ethical and social considerations also pertain. As I recall, the preferred phrasing in the Declaration of Independence was 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness' not the alternative phrasing of 'life, liberty and property' (the Lockean formation). In other words, economic liberty is not the sole consideration by which the merits of a society may be judged and the US founders recognised this.
Nor indeed is possessive individualism necessarily the sole basis of the notion of liberty itself; the US Constitution and bill of rights accordingly lack many of the rights incorporated into the UN and EU Human Rights declarations. The right to privacy springs to mind.
---- This message was posted by kharin to the Virus 2002 board on Church of Virus BBS. <http://virus.lucifer.com/bbs/index.php?board=51;action=display;threadid=25647>
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