Freedom is not safe

Well, the crux of the matter to me is this-----as this little blue ball of ours hurtles through space and time coming from somewhere and going to --somewhere-- and manifests physically/ geographically as an absolute paradise opposed to anywhere past a certain amount of distance outward from the surface------are we, as the dominant species, seeing that / ensuring that --our environment is a major concern to all, our governments are organized to benefit all inhabitants, our medical discoveries concerning the health of our populations are available to all sentience without reservation? That all creatures have a recognized place in the continuum of life ,( with some few exceptions), and should be protected from harm? In other words--is the earth being managed correctly in such a way as to the benefit of all sentience in a manner that will prove to be advantageous for us IN THE LONG TERM?

I think the answers to my questions are --at least to me--quite obvious. Is capitalism --as is manifested presently--sustainable long term? Is Communism as is manifested presently--sustainable long term? Is there--can there --be another system that takes into consideration the long term effects of our habitation as relates to my questions above? Are we doomed to just use all the resources of the earth as we are on the path of doing now? Are we heading towards utter and complete chaos as the population continues to rise and resources continue to dwindle and control of them are in fewer and fewer "hands. "? Just as obvious is the fact that I have no answers to my queries and therefore no amazing conclusions to same.

Some number of "things" have to happen in order for amelioration to take place. Humans MUST have some answers, IMO, and fairly soon. Or is the only feasible solution entropy of all known systems the answer?

Never mind---BUY MORE--BUY MORE NOW.

 

Consumer Reports publishes whatever the hell the legal system allows them to publish. We should abolish the legal system, so anyone can publish anything they want.

 

We are in perfect agreement here. This is how I see the world as well.

Great thoughts. The way I see it: if you want world peace, make peace with your neighbors. If everyone made peace with their neighbors, we would have world peace.

It's difficult to say. We are definitely trapped here on the big blue marble and for a seemingly infinite period of time.

Capitalism is production. If the means of production were more widespread, we would have more capitalists, and a better economic system. Raising up crops of consumers is horrible. Consumerism is slavery. Were you quoting THX-1138? That's a future I would wish to avoid.

 

Yes, great points. It's true. The best way to manage resources is privately.

Ah.... and the bloated rich do not control the government?

Whether the socialism is national or international, it always seems to have a low regard for human life.

Pollution can be a terrible thing. The Hudson River only became a polluted mess because the breweries that used the water were put out of business by the federal government "for the greater good". If government had let people brew and enjoy their beer, the river water would have been kept clean and there would have been no Al Capone either.

Certainly. Congress has the power to regulate inter-state commerce and the states are supposed to regulate state-level commerce and the localities have the power to do as they wish.

Chaos theory was propelled forward when the 1950s dream of weather prediction was proved to be impossible. Even if we had accurate sensors gathering all of the available climate data possible to collect we would never be able to predict the weather with any degree of accuracy into the future. Chaos theory proved that what they were finding was accurate - and always would be. It's not a question of having all the data, it's simply that the development of patterns responding to tiny changes are unpredictable beyond a certain point - as you have noticed, accuracy degrades markedly after 3 days and is fairly nonexistent after about 10.

People are even more unpredictable. A centrally-managed society will always fail.

It seems more akin to feudal serfdom to me. They were paid with company coupons only usable at company stores and subjected to intolerable abridgements of personal freedoms. West Virginia coal wars - Wikipedia

I see it as the best kind of capitalism. Stock of the Ford Motor Company is less than $15 per share; it's not expensive for a Ford employee to become part owner, for example.

 

I don't understand the connection between Prohibition and clean water. Are you arguing that if it hadn't been for the government closing the breweries there "dirty" industries wouldn't have moved in? Do you have a source for that? I thought most of the breweries became ice cream plants and manufacturers of soft drinks and lemonade. Some also became bootleggers. The real crisis came in the 60s and 70s as a result of state laws and regulations. The History of Beer in New Jersey By that time, the Hudson was a notorious sewer. full of PCBs (209,000-1.3 million pounds) from two GE plans (t, dye from industries that came in after the war to meet shortages, cadmium, heavy metals, pesticides, sewage and urban runoff, because everybody was using it as their sewer. What did Al Capone have to do with it?

 

The aforementioned practice of industry treating the waterways as sewers is what economists call externalities. In a libertarian environment, the industries are concerned only with the relationship between themselves and their customers. If they can get rid of the waste by dumping it into waterways that neither own, that's exactly what they will do--good rational free marketeers that they are. One way of removing externalities is to tax the dumping. Another is to regulate it. In either case, neither the companies, nor their customers, nor the tooth fairy is going to solve the problem. And since the Hudson is an interstate waterway, it's understandable that the feds would step in under the Clean Water Act. So now much of the pollution has been cleaned up. Clean Water for the Hudson River Estuary - NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation Is that so bad?

 

It's obvious we're a messy bunch and that so far in our time here, we have proven incapable of solving the important questions / dilemmas that face us, existential or otherwise.
Here's an example of an action that should have been taken: There's now a terrible drought on different parts of the globe. The more things change, the more they remain the same. In other words--cycles recur. The ocean is rising. Why aren't the coastlines loaded with desalinization plants? "WE "always seem to wait for catastrophe and then bust ass to fix. Or not.

 

Most of us like to think we all own the atmosphere, waterways, oceans the “commons”. In the absence of rules, common property will be appropriated by the strongest for their own use….the rest of us won’t matter. Frequently this results in the destruction of the commons and the water or air will be irreplaceable. Unregulated capitalism is very ugly, the latest example is the rise of Amazon. Since the removal of antitrust laws monopoly corporations have run wild. They put competition out of business using cutthroat means and when there is no competition left, they are free to exploit the public.

Not the kind of world I like. People need to remember that the rules we grew up with were the result of hard fought battle by labor unions, environmental groups and concerned citizens. Ask the people in Libby, Mt how RR’s chum Peter grace flaunted safety rules gave workers and their families mesothelioma. Ask the coal miners about Black Lung disease. Ask the vets about agent orange and remember more 245 t was sprayed on Iowa than Vietnam. Libertarian thought doesn’t care about other people or equity. Just how do you think the disgraceful income distribution in the US came about since 1980? And public education paid for my children’s education, so it’s my turn pay for others. I want my neighbors children educated….

 

What do you feel is the most urgent problem facing the United States in 2021?

 

​

 

suppose poverty were a pressing issue...

Can we fix it, or should we just let it be it's own thing?

https://resources.saylor.org/wwwres...s/Social Problems - Continuity and Change.pdf

 

or sexual assault.

 

You illustrate a valid point: private property is typically well-maintained, while unowned or governmentally-controlled property is often poorly managed.

On the other hand, we could reduce government-imposed obstacles to ecommerce to make it easier for other ecommerce sites to compete with Amazon.

That they did. Imagine if you told them that in the future they would need their governor's permission to have grandma over for Christmas dinner or even to bury their dead?

Other people - yes. Equality - yes.

Equity?

Your neighbors children will be educated to be...... what kind of person, exactly?

Public schools today are little prisons. If you haven't been to one in a while, take a look. They have locked doors, security cameras and police officers. Children have to ask permission to use the bathroom and they are subjected to violence at the hands of other children. They are taught to fear and to obey and to conform to their assigned cohort. They are deprived of recess, music and art. They memorize what is needed to pass standardized tests. The tests are made easier year after year to ensure positive results. Ask a recent high school graduate to make change in his head; I did this at a store without thinking and the young man actually cried. High school diploma and he is unable to think for himself. It never even occurred to him to use the calculator app on his phone.

I prefer homeschooling. My homeschooled kids are free range. They are all educated differently at home. They learn to learn. They play in the sunshine. They are all treated like individuals. The curriculum is changed or abandoned if it is not working for that particular student. They take older versions of standardized tests because those are more difficult. They learn to associate with people of all age groups. They are encouraged to play instruments and sing. They learn to bake and cook and sew and dance and sing. They are exposed to ancient and modern languages, mathematics, history, geography, science, art, music, literature - and they can focus on what appeals to them. They learn to question authority and to learn how to learn, because everything changes. They are confident, healthier than the average public school kid, and have no memories of being beaten, tortured or humiliated as a child to flower into neuroticism later in life. They are free.

 

We can make significant reductions to poverty in American through a Libertarian approach. One of the most significant things we can do to alleviate the causes of poverty is to reduce the mass incarceration of our civilian population.

 

The Cuyahoga River caught fire in 1969 and burned down a couple of bridges. I remember an EPA official summing up their achievement since passage of the Clean Water Act. Our waters fell short of the goal of "fishable and swimable" throughout the U.S, but at least they're no longer flammable.