Rick Perry Too Expensive

Rick Perry is the current front runner for the GOP presidential nomination. This may be a positive thing for our President in his bid for a second term, but the cost could be devastating, and for a very wrong reason: a showdown with the religious extremist of this country would be very divisive, and thus, very expensive culturally. 

People of faith are for the most part very good and honest folks whose intentions are usually just. The problem emerges when these same well meaning people feel that their world view must be forced upon the entire nation We already have certain fear mongers spewing hateful innuendo about the possibility of Muslims of the country attempting to institutionalize Sharia law here in America, while at the same time vowing to force their interpretation of the Jewish and Christian paradigm onto our own constitution. These religious extremists have the twisted notion that the founders of this nation intended to establish a Christian nation here in the New World. How is this any different than the establishment of Muslim nations of the Middle East or north Africa? None, and sound minded individuals should be fearful of Biblical Law becoming the guiding force for our form of government.

I call this extreme religious coalition the "world is flatters". They base their faith on the Old Testament view that the Earth is the center of the Universe and that science is the working of the devil. This nation can't afford Rick Perry, the cost to our constitutional form of government is too great. Our founders fervently believed in freedom; all kinds of freedom including freedom of association, freedom of the press, and very importantly, freedom of religion. They founded a nation of Christians, not a Christian nation.

Speak up!!!!!!

No Seperation

The line between the separation of Church and State is not only being crossed but being erased. Potential Presidential candidate and current Governor of the state of Texas is holding a "prayer" conference next month. Only Christians are invited. "Just let God solve our nation's pressing problems."

Religion has always equaled politics and the founders of this nation new this. One of the major issues they had with English control of the American colonies was The Church of England being shoved down their throats. Look it up!!! Two hundred plus years later the Christians of America are shoving their worldview up the ass of those who believe the founders new better. I bet the earliest Christians would be very quick to warn of such bigotry. They were persecuted for hundreds of years before the then super power of the Western World adopted Christianity as their official religion.

Next will come a fascist, dictatorial, autocratic government with the nuclear armaments to indeed "prove" that the end of the world is coming. Just push a button and then: "There, I told you so."

Does anyone see this as a major problem? Speak to me!!!!

Submitted by plusadmin on March 1, 2001 in 14Adam SmithArrow's theoremfree marketgame theoryinvisible handPrisoner's Dilemmasocial choiceMarch 2001


"...every individual necessarily labours to render the annual revenue of the society as great as he can. He generally, indeed, neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it. By preferring the support of domestic to that of foreign industry, he intends only his own security; and by directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value, he intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention. Nor is it always the worse for the society that it was no part of it. By pursuing his own interest he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it. I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good."

In this passage, taken from his 1776 book "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations" Adam Smith set out the mechanism by which he felt economic society operated. Each individual strives to become wealthy "intending only his own gain" but to this end he must exchange what he owns or produces with others who sufficiently value what he has to offer; in this way, by division of labour and a free market, public interest is advanced.

Smith is often regarded as the father of economics, and his writings have been enormously influential. Nowadays, "invisible hand" explanations are invoked to explain all sorts of phenomena, from scientific progress to environmental degradation. In the modern context, mathematicians study "invisible hand" processes as part of Game Theory, the branch of mathematics that deals with payoffs and strategies (see Game Theory and the Cuban Missile Crisis) in Issue 13 of Plus.



Smith was profoundly religious, and saw the "invisible hand" as the mechanism by which a benevolent God administered a universe in which human happiness was maximised. He made it clear in his writings that quite considerable structure was required in society before the invisible hand mechanism could work efficiently. For example, property rights must be strong, and there must be widespread adherence to moral norms, such as prohibitions against theft and misrepresentation. Theft was, to Smith, the worst crime of all, even though a poor man stealing from a rich man may increase overall happiness. He even went so far as to say that the purpose of government is to defend the rich from the poor.

             Here is a description of the way Smith imagined the universe operates:


•There is a benevolent deity who administers the world in such a way as to maximise human happiness.

•In order to do this he has created humans with a nature that leads them to act in a certain way.

•The world as we know it is pretty much perfect, and everyone is about equally happy. In particular, the rich are no happier than the poor.

•Although this means we should all be happy with our lot in life, our nature (which, remember, was created by God for the purpose of maximising happiness) leads us to think that we would be happier if we were wealthier.

•This is a good thing, because it leads us to struggle to become wealthier, thus increasing the sum total of human happiness via the mechanisms of exchange and division of labour.

It is clear why Smith says that moral norms are necessary for such a system to work - in order for exchange to proceed, contracts must be enforceable, people must have good access to information about the products and services available, and the rule of law must hold.

_________

Mr. Smith was a Scottish social philosopher in the 18th century and only later became known as "the father of economics". His fore cited work has ever since has been the Bible of Modern Capitalism. It then becomes abundantly clear why this paradigm has always, today more than ever, been top loaded. The wealthy, with few exceptions, are not very moral people.

Smith goes on to suggest that "the invisible hand" of free markets will ultimately benefit all of society unintentionally (remember Smith was a social philosopher first). Everyone becomes more prosperous because God wants it that way. In my view those of which I refer (the most wealthy) are godless. Furthermore, they use the religious people of this nation to keep them in power by convincing them that they are on the side the devout. I emphasize, the religious are being used, and they vote against their own  economic interest because they have been brainwashed to believe that this godless cabal is protecting their social interests.

Invisible hand? Trickle down? My ass!!!

Please comment.

American Decline

Just another example of the decline of the United States of America is the defunding of NASA and our space program. After the U.S. victory over the Soviet Union we are now going to be dependent on Russia for the launch of U.S. astronauts into space. What perfect definition of irony.

This is a most visible example of our abandonment of scientific study an development in this country. What the heck, we no longer train enough science and math and engineering specialists in this country and more dependent of foreign scientists anyway. Why worry about training scientists in this country when we can import them as easily as we can import tee shirts from China. Cut education, cut job training, end NASA. Why not? America itself is on the chopping block as well.

The end of NASA, the end of Medicare, the end of fairness in equal opportunity, the end of Western Civilization.

Don't have the balls to comment?