Jay's Tuesday Free Enterprise Quote - 29 July 2014

First of all, I am disappointed with the tone of all this and I apologize that this has deteriorated so much.

I'm not sure how economic thinking is part of a problem, or how I am an alarmist but here goes.

There was no comparison anywhere Jim.  When I said "we" in 63, I meant the world.  The world was given Adolf by the German people.

To be fair, Germany was beaten down by a POLITICAL accord that crushed it's economy.  The people were beaten down first by the incompetent Wilhelm, and then by WWI.  Then the economic crap that followed.  To say it was a mess is an understatement.  Hitler was first seen by the populace as a clown without any hope of going anywhere or doing any damage.  So they allowed his "antics."  It took a many years, but he LEGALLY took over the country.

What I was saying in 63 was to use a single name to suggest dictatorship.  If I had used the name Kiko, or Yakubu, or Mengistu or Vlad (they all killed millions), would you have understood my reference?  I used "Adolf" hyperbolistically to suggest a dictator WHO CHANGED THE WORLD.

I'm not an alarmist.  Do you NOT think that an Adolf can happen again?  Really?  A single leader pops up who changes the world?  It would happen because a society did not pay attention to politics.  They were worried about other things - less important things.

That's what I was saying in 63.  Are MOST people in the world, or even in our country, thinking long term?

You want a comparison?  Rome fell.  Much of our society is patterned after Rome!  It fell because the people became more interested in entertainment than education; they did not protect their borders; the people grew lazy, not working and expecting gubment dole; the gubment grew by leaps and bounds and the bureaucracy got so staggeringly large that it broke the state because the citizenry that was working could not pay the needed taxes.  Don't believe me?  Do your own study.  (I read economic history books like novels)

Sound familiar?  Is our citizenry thinking long term?  A kid ran into my car today while riding his bicycle because he was paying more attention to his phone.  Look at that photo I put up there - people in a welfare office.  Are we thinking long term?

There's no reason for you two to slam each other.  Reread Michelangelo's quote and think about your person, job, family, whatever.  But it's a good quote and I think perfect for free enterprise thinkers.  I don't see any weekly posts about the greatness and wonders of socialism.

Economics and politics go hand in hand.  Spanish for economics is economía política.  Do I need to translate?

Rights aren't provided by other people Than, and when others pay for them they are not Constitutionally protected.  They can't be.

I did a post on rights 3 years ago:

http://activerain.com/blogsview/2383495/the-fourth-of-july-and--rights-

So now you have a right to be provoked by me Than?

Says he, with a wink.

Perhaps somewhat narrow Than.  But there is little tolerance for other points of view.  Which is where the force comes in.  Free enterprise forces nothing.

Jim - so many things are called rights now, that really aren't.  Behaviors aren't rights.  I went to church today.  My doing so did not affect anyone else's ability to take advantage of their right to assembly or to not assemble.  My assembling cost nobody anything.

I agree with all that Jim.  My point wasn't exactly that rights are associated with economics - but politics is associated with economics.  Rights, as our documents define them, are endowed by God, self evident and unalienable.  Now we would say inalienable.  And, as you say, natural.

And Than, I would prefer the word "stimulate" to "provoke" as regards my posts!

The concept of natural rights were discussed by many philosophers, all known and studied by the Founding Fathers.  Philosophers like Locke, Hume, Rousseau, Berkeley, Kant, etc., whose thinking was incorporated into our founding documents, were all well read by the Founding Fathers.  And they were economic thinkers too!  I studied them all in my college Economic Thought classes.

You can go all over the place for info on natural rights, but this quote comes from the Bill of Rights Institute:

"According to natural rights theory, as described by philosophers such as John Locke, everyone is born with an equality of certain rights, regardless of their nationality. Since they come from nature or from God, natural rights cannot be justly taken away without consent. As the Declaration of Independence asserts, natural (or “inalienable”) rights include “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Other natural rights are protected in the Bill of Rights, including freedom of speech, religion, and press. The Founders believed that it is an important purpose of government to protect peoples’ natural rights. Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom that infringements of conscience were a violation of natural rights; James Madison included protections from government abridgement of natural rights in the Bill of Rights.

The Ninth Amendment addresses those natural rights not specifically listed in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, but which the people retain.

The Bill of Rights does not list every right that the people have. During the ratification debate, many called for a bill of rights to be added to the document. Federalists, who supported the Constitution as written, worried that a listing of certain rights would lead people to think that other rights were less important. The Ninth Amendment was added to try to prevent this misconception. The Ninth Amendment implicitly refers to natural rights, which the Founders believed all people were born with as the gift of God or nature. As stated in the Declaration of Independence, they include life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

Endowed rights don't "come from us."  Creator, God, Heavenly Father, whatever, all describe the same being, from whom we derive this endowment and heritage.

What topic would you like treated in the next free enterprise post?  Or individual's thinking?

Haven't thought about tomorrow's post yet Than.  We'll see.

Just finished it.  I will migrate it to AR soon.

You baby.