Dear talk_politics members: I render unto you a question:

[atasharuku.livejournal.com]

How would you describe your ideal government and its laws and policies?

(Sorry, mods, for making a short post consisting of nothing but a question. I was hoping it could facilitate some interesting and hopefully wank-free discussion ^_^)

Comments

[root-fu.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure about that.

There has never been a world where every demographic in existence has not tried to give themselves unfair advantages over others. The rich have simply been better and more effective at it. It doesn't mean the poor or middle class doesn't have the capacity to be as exploitive or unfair -- it simply means that whatever power vacuum exists has a tendency to be filled most often by the wealthy.

Given such, its possible creating a vacuum whereby the wealthy are no longer the main causes of unfairness and bias in society only invites a new demographic to become oppressors, themselves.

BUT, it is also a question of what proportion of human success is built upon unfair and exploitive paradigms. Without slave labor we would not have the Gaza Pyramids, Great Wall of China, and other things considered 'great achievements' of humanity. To pretend that such arrangements may not potentially yield positive contributions may be unfair and unrealistic.

How much of America's wealth is built upon the exploitation of laborers from China and elsewhere? And, how much of America's present wealthy is built upon sweatshops in Asia as well as worker concentration camps and child labor in China?

To eliminate such potential advantages is based upon a precedent that is not recognized by history as it has never truly existed in any era of human history.

Despite this, yes I would agree: eliminate unfair advantages and level the playing field -- that's how it should be.

[atasharuku.livejournal.com]

Of course, the desire to strive to better oneself is good for the individual and society in general. I'm not saying that things would be better off if class demographics didn't exist. And I agree that a substantial amount of America's prosperity is due to the outsourcing of labor to other countries - I also think that the existence of sweatshops isn't a purely negative thing, as there are benefits to those employed therein that people often ignore in their eagerness to condemn something. I just agree that whether or not someone was born into a rich family shouldn't matter as much.