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[Spanky]

Originally posted by bilmore
You muddy the waters.

You want this to be a battle between good and evil, between right and wrong. It's not that simple.

One system of thought holds that the greater good is served by serving the greatest number. Stalin embodied that.

Another holds that the greatest good is what serves ME. That was Saddam, among others.

A third holds that each individual is properly his own greatest value.

Until you can point me to a burning bush that screams out "Pick the third choice! Pick the third!", I'm left to believe, simply, that we all need to fight for what we value.

For me, and, I'm guessing, for you, that would be the right of each individual, even those ignorant brown peoples in funny foriegn countries, to have a say in their fate. I suspect that we both would cross a street to stop a bully beating up a child. We would reject objections of "that's all he knows", or "sure, you stop the beating now, but what do you have to replace it?" as meaningless drivel. But, that's not some higher law at work - that's just our own individual choice.

Thankfully, I'm guessing that the choices we make, and the values that we hold, make us more effective in this continuing battle than the people in the first group, and our numbers and resolve make us more effective than the people in the second group. Logically, I think we eventually win, because our philosophy is more conducive to life and happiness for all.

Might makes right, I guess, in a Randian sort of way.

About ten years ago, I used to think that way. But now I subscribe to the unversal moral code craziness. I was going to explain why, but realized that it would take a few pages and I am lazy. So as long as our interests line up what the hell..