Social Construct's Comments (1160)

“LOL.............I see your point.”

“B_u_ll_c_r_a_p. One person, one vote. Nothing wrong with that. The "Republic" idea, with senators, the New World aristocracy, was meant to suppress one person, one vote.”

“yes, but how do they get the loyalty to supply the conformity and is it a necessary relationship?”

“what do you think contemporary conservative thought has kept from post modern conservative thought or rather what are youre definitions of conservative thought?

and I think government is an noun and like most nouns has a definition which gives it some utility. what the definition of the United States government is is up for grabs, but whatever it is now, it is not an alleviation for much other than those who have been singled out as inheritance and claimworthy recipiants of the power structure in which entitlement (and the preception of it) negotiate the copious system of rewards and the undeniable system of punishments.”

“Even with those governments, a utopian society is a fantasy. In fact, i think that government intervention often makes things worse not better. Theres a saying about power corrupts absolutely. As government becomes more powerful, it attracts those who want to further their own interests (big business campaign donors) or those who want power over people (ie the religious right). Eventually these social programs end up serving the wealthy at the expense of the common person.”

“why not read james weldon johnson, you are critical of the "vehicle" Mr. curtis johnson uses to impart his priciple but in your criticizm miss the transmission; the engendered introspection that mandates an indoctrinization of actualization via sincereity of implication and of inference that only a witness to culpability can testify to. he does though, over simplify a little digressing from convienience and conformity culture to the parable of the reluctant antagonist.”

“Being a sociopath would probably help.”

“That's certainly true. The whole thing is a melange of a lot of misunderstandings and self-serving attitudes.

What you point out is one of the ways in which it becomes undeniably apparent for everyone to see that the talk about 'talent' cannot possibly make any sense at all in the manner in which we are presented this kind of argument.

I am trying to clarify what it would really take to take about a 'price of talent'. I'm not against the notion in principle. In fact I'm more in favor of it than against it - when it comes to those who are supposed to generate revenue, not for risk managers or back office types. But the compensation as it is practiced NOW certainly does not allow for such a notion. To use the fancy ideal properties of the ideal (of risk-sensitive performance based compensation) as a justification for continued abuse is worse than ugly. It is simply despicable.”

“Social Construct:

I'm not a Randian. Though, I am for anyone who adheres to the Constitution.

I really like that.”

“Social Construct writes: I'm convinced that the author is making an erroneous assumption that, like some economic theory, people are going to behave in a rational and reasoned manner.

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I don't know if you saw the congressional hearing where former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan was grilled by Henry Waxman (a great negative thinker) and others. But this is exactly what he admitted.

He had been one of the ultimate positive thinkers, believing in the principle of free and unregulated markets - believing that people would act in their own rational self-interest and thus curb the excesses of capitalism. He was non-plussed - even DUMBFOUNDED - to find out it simply isn't so. His whole world view was not on tilt.

Realistic thinking - the kind advocated by the sages of the ages who never charged a dime for their wisdom - includes recognition of our capacity for both greatness and idiocy - for goodness and evil - for light and dark.

Unless we have a healthy respect for the power of human egotism (yours, mine and ours) to screw things up, we're going to end up in a sweat lodge with James Arthur Ray - or mindlessly involved in some other toxic foolishness.

This is one reason why the sharing of wisdom as a "for profit" business is a huge mistake, with vast and unpredictable karmic consequences, not just for individuals, but for entire societies.”

“Yes! :-)

America is not a pledge.

America is, or used to be, a symbol of freedom, liberty, and opportunity.

I dare say the world does not see us that way any longer. Until we go back to fighting for these principals we don't have much of a claim to them.”