Platt: "Quite bluntly, Pirsig says capitalistic free enterprise is superior
to
socialism. To deny that is simply and utterly wrong."
i would agree with platt here, with a small addition.
i think it is clearer to say that historically speaking, the practical
application of the idea of capitalistic free enterprise is superior to the
application of the idea of socialism.
to be fair the models of 'socialism' that we have seen last century are
closer to 'state capitalism' than 'true' (utopian/democratic) socialism.
i have had many problems with doctrinaire socialists over the years. they
can tend to be a little 'cultish', reacting poorly to criticism.
many are too keen on the idea of a socialist 'vanguard': an elite advance
force. rather arrogant aswell as being anti-democratic.
however, entrusting the running of the world to an abstraction called 'the
market' (which is a central feature of unrestrained free market capitalism)
is doing us all great damage. we need a dynamic intellectual approach to
life. we need democracy.
gav
_________________________________________________________________
Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com
MOQ.ORG - http://www.moq.org
Mail Archive - http://alt.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/
MD Queries - horse@darkstar.uk.net
To unsubscribe from moq_discuss follow the instructions at:
http://www.moq.org/md/subscribe.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Sat Aug 17 2002 - 16:02:25 BST