Move-onward Liberal Soilders

Reprinted from Townhall.com

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We Do Not Ensure Freedom by Holding Elections

Recently, I read a comment by someone that said, democracy is two wolves and a lamb deciding what to have for dinner. A popularly elected government does not necessarily create the ultimate in good government. We should not forget that Hitler was popularly elected.

Also, we should be mindful that it can be difficult to impose freedom on a country that does not have the basic building blocks to support it. As much as we may wish it was so, not everyone everywhere is ready for democracy. We must realize that some nations are only nations because people who have little in common are held together by brute force and suppression as was the case in Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and Ethiopia.

In the following article Thomas Sowell explains why “nation-building” can be folly. It is too late to apply this lesson to Iraq, but hopefully we will learn this lesson before we are tempted to “liberate” the next country. Below are excerpts from the article.

Mugged By Reality: Part III
By Thomas Sowell
Thursday, September 20, 2007

If nothing else comes out of the Iraq war, it should banish the concept of "nation-building" from our language and our minds.

You cannot turn a territory and its population into a functioning nation with the stroke of a pen or the drawing of lines on a map.

Real nations evolve over time out of the mutual accommodations of peoples, not by imposing the bright ideas of theorists from the top down. No small part of African nations' problems comes from the fact that most became nations only in the sense that conquerors carved up African territories among themselves to suit their own convenience.

Democracy means voting. It does not mean freedom. When we lump the two ideas together, we confuse ourselves and others.
To read the full article: Mugged by Reality

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My Proposal for a Foreclosure Avoidance Program

Here's an idea for how to avoid foreclosures
By ROD WILLIAMS
Published: Monday, 09/17/07
The Tennessean
The state or local government could develop a program that would help many homeowners avoid foreclosure without it being either a bailout of the lenders or a burden on the taxpayers.
(To continue Reading: Here's an Idea for how.... )

This article was published today in the Tennessean. I welcome feedback on this proposal. You may post your comments on this site or email me at Rodwilliams47@yahoo.com.
Also in the same issue of the Tennessean are these three articles of interest: Foreclosure issues affect all of us, by David Tarpley, managing attorney of the consumer/law section, Nashville office, Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands; Housing industry got away from its policies, by Eddie Latimer who runs Affordable Housing Resources Inc., a nonprofit housing corporation, and is chairman of the Tennessee Housing Development Agency; and The economy pays a price for irresponsible lending, The Tennessean editorial. You can read all of these at this link, see the center of the page. The Tennessean, Opinion.

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In Defense of Greed

Recently, a family member of mine to whom I am very close called me in a state of despair. She had just watched the documentary “11th Hour” and was depressed about global warming and the future of the planet. The movie’s thesis is that this present moment is the last chance to save the world and we better mend our ways or it will be too late. This close relative said that she was so concerned and felt that the situation was almost hopeless. Human greed was going to destroy us all, she said.

Sometimes, I can be less than sensitive and diplomatic. It is not wise to tell a despairing liberal, “I disagree. I think greed is a virtue.” I should have gently said, “How so?" And, “ What do you mean by greed?" I then could have tried to distinguish greed from enlightened self interest.

It is hard to defend greed. By definition it is a bad thing. The dictionary describes it as, “Excessive desire to acquire or possess more than one needs or deserves.” How can one defend that? After all, greed is considered one of the seven deadly sins. To defend greed is like defending sloth, pride, or lust.

“Enlighten self-interest” may not be as offensive of a term as “greed,” but whatever we call this desire to improve one’s well being, it is a force for good. Adam Smith recognized the importance of self-interest when he said, "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest."

I admire those who give away their wealth to help the less fortunate. Charity and caring about the poor, the sick, or the state of the planet are virtues. However, more people are fed, housed, and healed due to the profit motive than all of the benevolence in the world. If global warming is to be solved it will be due to a proper accounting of the cost of global warming not because we can change human motivation. Once we properly account for the externality of global warming, then the magic of the market and a desire for profit will find the solutions.

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