05-16-2022, 05:58 PM
(05-16-2022, 07:09 AM)JasonBlack Wrote: People want "freedom" for themselves in some capacity, and most would prefer a democracy where they have a voice to an oppressive autocracy where they don't. Where things fall apart in terms of assuming this kind of broader liberal order is possible is that none of this implies that people are inclined to care nearly as much about other people's freedom. Even in the United States, where freedom is cherished more than anywhere else in the world, only around 50% of people approved of interracial marriage, and in took until around 2011 for that many to approve of same-sex marriage.
The disappearance of freedom for some is the harbinger of similar losses for others. The last thing that any tyrant wants is for everyone to turn against him at once.
Many people want freedom from what they find disgusting, which could be two men or two women acting like a married couple, a 'mixed' couple, or some member of a minority group not showing deference. We need be careful about the expression of disgust, saving such for truly harmful things for others.
Quote:Imo, the best thing we can do is focus on policies that draw in the best people. People who really do value the freedom of others, believe in personal accountability, work hard and possess exceptional talents. At the end of the day, most societies tend to get what they deserve. Granted, with this can only ever be true in the most general, aggregated sense, as people in any country very widely in terms of what they deserve, but the older I get, one simple truth becomes obvious: the easiest way to become happier and more successful is to surround yourself with good people and keep yourself away from bad people.
So where do the not-so-good people go if they have no means of improving themselves?
Quote:Is it as easy to do this on the level of a nation as it is to do so on an individual level? Unfortunately not, but what we can look at is the incentives created by both our immigration policy and the overall manner in which our country is run. To an extent, I would argue America is already doing better than most. For example, if you look at immigration vs crime, the percentage of immigrants in the French prison system is about 3x higher than their percentage in the general population. Meanwhile, immigrants to the United States are under-represented in our justice system, because America has a culture and policies which have drawn in the most hardworking and entrepreneurial members of other societies for hundreds of years, and imo, there is no reason why we can't zero in on this trend and optimize it for even better results.
Maybe this reflects what immigrants a country gets. If they have similar values (let us say Caribbean blacks in the UK) they can more easily adapt to such changes as are necessary. Latin-American immigrants? We already have a large Hispanic middle class that can set norms.
Deport offenders, of course.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.