- Reaction score
- 35
- Points
- 560
We can call this construct "Couchism", if you like, but you are simply pushing a rope. Human nature is all about self interest, not the collective. As I have tried to show in other threads, whenever individual self interest is unleashed, the results are amazing.
In the ancient world, they Mycenaean culture revolved around servicing the needs of the "palace" (a form of feudalism seems to have existed in Mycenae). The overall population density was low, wealth was highly concentrated and Mycenaean culture extended through Greece, and parts of the Aegean. After the fall of the Palace culture and the dark ages, essentially the same people, (speaking the same language, worshipping the same gods etc.) had developed a much different social organization revolving around the free ownership of land, where the land owners built the economic, political and military structures to maintain their social position we recognize as the Classical Polis. Classical Greek civilization spread across the Mediterranean and into Asia Minor. Those cities which developed or adopted Democracy indeed used juries appointed by lottery and strict term limits, because they understood human nature, and wished to limit the opportunities to abuse power.
This allowed Athens, above all others, to create and maintain an Empire (the Delian League), even in the face of opposition by Sparta and her Allies (the Peloponessian League) and the vastly larger and potentially wealthier Persian Empire. Only a combination of bad luck (the plague), Imperial hubris (the Athenian invasion of Sicily) and the combined resources of all her enemies could bring her down, and even then, Athens regained a prominent position in Greece prior to Phillip destroying Geek culture and imposing Macedonian rule.
Elizabethan England, Holland and Venice were liberal (for their age) states, and thus able to withstand the might of far more powerful Empires and States such as Spain, the Ottoman Empire and France under the Sun King Louis XIV.
In the modern age, the growth of the Asian Tigers and the remarkable rise of Ireland all resulted from a heavy dose of liberalization, deregulation and tax cuts.
Although there may be individual people who, through poor planning, bad choices and ill luck miss out, the overall lesson that can be derived from comparative studies across different times and cultures is that if people are free to work for their individual self interest, the net result is a positive one for their society.
In the ancient world, they Mycenaean culture revolved around servicing the needs of the "palace" (a form of feudalism seems to have existed in Mycenae). The overall population density was low, wealth was highly concentrated and Mycenaean culture extended through Greece, and parts of the Aegean. After the fall of the Palace culture and the dark ages, essentially the same people, (speaking the same language, worshipping the same gods etc.) had developed a much different social organization revolving around the free ownership of land, where the land owners built the economic, political and military structures to maintain their social position we recognize as the Classical Polis. Classical Greek civilization spread across the Mediterranean and into Asia Minor. Those cities which developed or adopted Democracy indeed used juries appointed by lottery and strict term limits, because they understood human nature, and wished to limit the opportunities to abuse power.
This allowed Athens, above all others, to create and maintain an Empire (the Delian League), even in the face of opposition by Sparta and her Allies (the Peloponessian League) and the vastly larger and potentially wealthier Persian Empire. Only a combination of bad luck (the plague), Imperial hubris (the Athenian invasion of Sicily) and the combined resources of all her enemies could bring her down, and even then, Athens regained a prominent position in Greece prior to Phillip destroying Geek culture and imposing Macedonian rule.
Elizabethan England, Holland and Venice were liberal (for their age) states, and thus able to withstand the might of far more powerful Empires and States such as Spain, the Ottoman Empire and France under the Sun King Louis XIV.
In the modern age, the growth of the Asian Tigers and the remarkable rise of Ireland all resulted from a heavy dose of liberalization, deregulation and tax cuts.
Although there may be individual people who, through poor planning, bad choices and ill luck miss out, the overall lesson that can be derived from comparative studies across different times and cultures is that if people are free to work for their individual self interest, the net result is a positive one for their society.