10-21-2017, 04:39 PM
(10-21-2017, 08:59 AM)David Horn Wrote:(10-17-2017, 07:12 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: Good point. I was wondering today how much convenience I am really willing to give up for the collective good.
... and that's it in a nutshell. As a nation, we aren't ready to suffer even minor discomfort -- not yet anyway. What will take us there and when are both open questions. I'm still in the not-this-time camp. We may have to suffer greatly to benefit greatly. We're too old to suffer the worst of it, and will certainly not be around to witness the best either. I do fear for those much younger. They didn't make the mess, but they'll be the clean-up crew.
We will be able to make great sacrifices when going along with a trend that economic elites have imposed upon us violates our core beliefs. Do you believe that America would have done an invasion on the scale of D-Day (the most lethal day in American history except for some in the Civil War) except that we found defeating the Nazi menace a compelling necessity?
We will make great collective sacrifices when the menace is individual evil for almost all people. If one sees 'our' economic elites as menaces to our freedom, prosperity, and personal dignity then even we American swill turn against those elites.
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.