The here and now of abstract ideal
Hardly more than two decades after achieving self-determination (well, sending the British military posted to its territory back home), the USA was embarked on a foreign policy determined almost solely by business interests, with little concern for ethical considerations, or even the promulgation of democracy (an excuse for interventions often cited for propagandistic purposes, which, however, produced little hard or lasting evidence of actual good intent).
The result of this indifference is now an inability to negotiate except through offer of direct payment or threat of force.
The majority of the populations in many of the US “allied” countries is composed of people unmoved by democratic rhetoric, suspicious of outsiders and unwilling to rely on international institutions (which may well be much for the best).
Which, of course, eventually undermines business (perhaps also very much for the best).
Advocates of unregulated business may often be “Christian” but they’re also very Darwinian (in a popular, but restricted, and hardly entirely correct, sense); they clearly support, with minimal effort at justification, social inequality, inequity and limited justice… the kind of thing by which a slave could be counted as 3/5 of a person, for political purposes (as under early US constitutional law).
It’s shortsighted, but the here and now is different than a possible future for one’s descendents, or some abstract ideal, isn’t it?
There is one respect in which the USA espouses some pretense of ethical morality: in the repression of intoxicating drugs. In this, Social Darwinism has been having an incredible victory. With the market in not merely a fashionable craze, but a social mainstay placed totally in the control of criminals, underground corporations have developed, with the most ruthless at the top. Civil disobedience (did those involved only know it was that) has become popular, and the funds for experimental new enterprises have been made available… surely through the foresight of our wise leaders.
The result of this indifference is now an inability to negotiate except through offer of direct payment or threat of force.
The majority of the populations in many of the US “allied” countries is composed of people unmoved by democratic rhetoric, suspicious of outsiders and unwilling to rely on international institutions (which may well be much for the best).
Which, of course, eventually undermines business (perhaps also very much for the best).
Advocates of unregulated business may often be “Christian” but they’re also very Darwinian (in a popular, but restricted, and hardly entirely correct, sense); they clearly support, with minimal effort at justification, social inequality, inequity and limited justice… the kind of thing by which a slave could be counted as 3/5 of a person, for political purposes (as under early US constitutional law).
It’s shortsighted, but the here and now is different than a possible future for one’s descendents, or some abstract ideal, isn’t it?
There is one respect in which the USA espouses some pretense of ethical morality: in the repression of intoxicating drugs. In this, Social Darwinism has been having an incredible victory. With the market in not merely a fashionable craze, but a social mainstay placed totally in the control of criminals, underground corporations have developed, with the most ruthless at the top. Civil disobedience (did those involved only know it was that) has become popular, and the funds for experimental new enterprises have been made available… surely through the foresight of our wise leaders.
posted by Mythorelics | 10:46 PM
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