Subject:
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Re: Only nations can generate patriotic pride (Re: Some good news for a change, maybe?)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Thu, 24 Jun 2004 05:25:07 GMT
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Viewed:
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923 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Larry Pieniazek wrote:
> In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Christopher L. Weeks wrote:
> > In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Richard Parsons wrote:
> >
> > > Don't get me wrong, government is critically important (like say, a decent
> > > sewerage system),
>
> Disagree, see below.
>
> > but its highest achievement is to be just a tool.
>
> I'd agree with that. Properly construed, government is a tool to protect rights.
> Improperly constructed, government is a master that takes them away.
>
> > My sewerage system is completely privately owned and works just fine.
>
> Two points.
>
> 1, Perhaps there's a bit of cause and effect there? Sewerage isn't really a
> proper function of government anyway.
As per my reply to Chris I wasn't actually saying that governments should run
sewerage, only that government is critically important, like sewerage is
critically important.
> 2. Completely privately owned things that work just fine are a large part of
> what I feel patriotic about. Certainly I take a lot more patriotic pride in
> thinking about the achievements of, say, IBM, than I do the "achievements" of
> the BATF. One of the great things about the US (and other western democracies,
> and other countries where capitalism has been allowed to function) is that great
> things consistently get done by private organizations.
I think we've got a large area of agreement on this, looking at these capitalist
ventures as an expression of American-ness. Does your disagreement suggest that
the you do NOT feel that your government can act in ways that make you feel
patriotic? Or just that government is not critically important generally.
Richard
Still baldly going...
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Serendipity & IBM
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| (...) Put your flag away. By chance, I read (URL) this> is my newspaper yesterday about IBM: Gypsies win right to sue IBM over role in Holocaust - In 1936 IBM set up its European "headquarters" in Geneva. The appeals court ruling said: "It does not (...) (20 years ago, 24-Jun-04, to lugnet.off-topic.debate, FTX)
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