Public trust

As is so often the case in modern life, we seem to be faced with something of a predicament, if not a dilemma. How much government do we need? What kind of government should we have? How free may we allow markets to be? Which has priority: the common or private good? I'm not saying the answers to these questions are easy, far from it. What I am saying is that I don't think we think enough, nor seriously enough about the answers. Many appear to have ready answers on their lips, but does what they have to say reduce or increase the difficulties with the predicament.

We're back to where we have been many times before: Do we live in an economy based on sound social principles? Do we live in a society based on sound economic principles? Or, perhaps just a little more bluntly: do we live in a society or an economy? I realize that the industrialized West, in the USA, first and foremost, society has been traded in for just an economy, and a relatively poor one at that. Privatization, de-regulation, reduction of social spending, and unrestrained markets is what the people clamor for ... or have I only been able to hear part of the yelling. I suppose so. Being as far away as I am, I can really only hear who is shouting the loudest and that's what I'm hearing. Here in Europe, the most recent elections -- in France, Greece, and two of the Länder in Germany have made clear statements that the people want more of their society back. Granted, it's not all as simple as that, but it's really not all that complicated either.

We -- and by that I mean all of us, every single one of us -- must decide what is important to us. We have to decide whether we want to have a society or not? If we decide we want one, we then need to decide what kind: tyrannical, authoritarian, democratic, free, social ... should it be a community or just a collection of individuals, every person for him or herself. These are very, very fundamental questions, but they are questions that each of us is called upon to have an answer to. And, oh, by the way, it isn't that you just have an answer, you need to know why your answer is your answer, you have to be able to justify to others the advantages of your own view. In case you are wondering how far this need go, that, too, is simple: you should be able to make clear to anyone that how you think is how absolutely every human being on the planet should think. If it's good enough for you, it has to be good enough for anybody. If it isn't, it's just another lousy -- and I do mean lousy -- opinion.

And, yes, I believe everyone is entitled to their opinions, regardless of how lousy they are. But no one should expect that I honor or have much respect for the lousy ones. If you aren't willing to put any effort into having it, why should I put any effort into dealing with it, let alone respect it?