Adam, Adam, Adam SmithQuote:
Originally Posted by chuck34
Listen what I charge you with!
Didn't you say in a class on day,
That selfishness was bound to pay?
Of all doctrines that was the Pith,
Wasn't it, wasn't it, wasn't it, Smith?
- Stephen Leacock
"Every man is, no doubt, by nature, first and principally recommended to his own care; and as he is fitter to take care of himself than of any other person, it is fit and right that it should be so. However, if he should continue to defend his self and his person and not prefer his neighbour or his nation above his own self, greater and more irreprable evils will be done. Death is the greatest evil which can be done, and to place the atrocious ability into a mans hands to defend his self, strains every nerve to outstrip his competitors. It is a violation of fair play with no end."
- Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiment, 1759
I think that the root of the problem is selfishness. America as the vanguard of individualism is the nation with the single greatest outworking of it's results. Smith warned of the arms race which you're now forced to participate in.
You can simple refuse to do nothing as a nation, just like you always do.
Incidentally, according to a writer in this month's issue of Quadrant Magazine (a publication here in Australia) you should expect the next massacre of 20 or more people within 3 days either way of the 27th of April, 2013.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rollo
