The values of the Declaration of Independence are profoundly humanitarian: All men are created equal, with inalienable rights (given by God) to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The values of trickle-down hyper-capitalistic economics are values-neutral, acknowledging no ethical responsibility to people or planet but only fiduciary responsibility to corporate stockholders. Our generation is confronted by the need to decide between the two.

Jun 10, 2023 · 11:37 PM UTC

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Replying to @marwilliamson
You can't cure bad government with more government. Rights are conditions of humanity bestowed by the Creator. These rights predate the formation of any government. Keep your hands out of my pocket. I have family to feed and I don't want or need government assistance. (1/2)
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Replying to @marwilliamson
“The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges every one: and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind, who will but consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions.” — Locke
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Replying to @marwilliamson
As a naturalized American, I always struggle with this. “All men”… Are we sure they meant all people here or is it written literally? After all, it was clear from the rest of the founding documents that all people were definitely not equal as many of them were aliened from their rights.
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Replying to @marwilliamson
CEP is the opposite of the values spelled out into the declaration. Man cannot pursue happiness unless he is free to do so. This is impossible without the free market.
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Replying to @marwilliamson
The right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is capitalism and applies to the individual. Equality under the law is what capitalism protects. The entitlement to sacrifice the individuals' inalienable rights for the sake of collective interests is what you're in favor of. You want equality of outcomes by means of sacrificing the individual. We don't have hyper capitalism. We have hyper cronyism, which is just a flavor of socialism.
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Replying to @marwilliamson
There is an inherent disregard taught in modern economics. We were reshaping the thought processes in the 60s, just to sell it off in the 80s
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Replying to @marwilliamson
Pursuit of happiness was 18th century euphemism for pursuit of money.
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Replying to @marwilliamson
Not God, Marianne. The Creator….which is up to interpretation because we are a nation of secular law.
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Replying to @marwilliamson
Capitalism is a moral system.
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Replying to @marwilliamson
Read A Theory of Moral Sentiments by Smith to help you understand that capitalism is not a moral system but a mechanism for man’s flourishing. That flourishing does not produce moral sentiments but is it’s byproduct already written in the culture and man’s soul
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