Many of us have been worrying a lot about the threats to the Western world. I think we need to articulate some of the positive elements of this mode of thinking and think about how to get our own youth -and older people to understand how precious these beliefs and modes of thinking are.
In truth many of these ideas are rooted in the Judeao -Christian ethic and I believe that religion has played and will play a vital role in the development of the western world. There are also many people without particular religious beliefs in our societies, so after remarking upon this, I will move on to the aspects I believe we can find broad consensus on.
I think many of the ideas articulated herein are also relevant to those whose belief systems are drawn from Asian religions. E.g. Hinduism, Buddhism, the Tao etc.
1. Personal Autonomy: Every one of us has the right to find our own way in life and must. This is the only way to properly develop the talents and full human potential each of us has. This is why the people from other cultures who come to the West blossom in ways those they never would have in their lands of birth –provided they embrace this philosophy. We are hence willing to tolerate a high level of diversity in the way people live and draw the line only at harm to others or society
2. Freedom of thought, expression and debate: There is vast, messy, fermenting, freedom that produces the fine wine of human knowledge. Our entire scientific, artistic, and social advance is because we a free to think, express, communicate and explore nay and all ideas. You get a lot of garbage, I know –but garbage is the product of the creation of something good. Think of the eggshells in the rubbish that tell us of the existence of a succulent omelet somewhere (I make very good omelets). We get daytime TV, but we also get integrated circuits and MRI devices –they both are part of this. Almost every advance in the human condition comes form this Western mode of thinking –including countries like Japan and Israel that have embraced this mode of thought. All the other societies together have produced less than 1% of scientific and technical advance in the last 200 years
3. Protection of the Vulnerable: We protect people form household abuse and economic exploitation. We also understand that in a culture of great opportunity and mobility, some will not succeed in acquiring their basic needs, or are born with challenges that make it hard to function within society. We do our best to share what which we have with those people and invest great effort into finding cures for physical, mental and social maladies. Although societies do it differently -e.g. government in the EU, more private charity in the USA. We are also aware of the danger of creating a class people dependent on help.
4. Education: The right of every child and adult to an excellent education that will provide them with the framework to live with the previous three premises, and the tolls to utilize those freedoms to the best of their ability. This cannot be compromised by our desire to make others in our societies comfortable or to make children feel good about them.
5. The Rule of Law: all of the above only works of there is one law for al land it is enforced fairly and without favor. Only when there are clear expectations of consistent behavior on the part of individuals, businesses and governments can prosperity and political stability occur
6. Democracy: One person one vote, majority rules minorities rights are inviolate – ‘nuff said
7. Economic Opportunity: Our societies are organized –or should be - to enable good ideas to get to market, wealth to be created and bad ideas and inefficient businesses to die on their own. Wealth is created by what works and this benefits everyone –provided we have our safety nest in place to catch those who will be temporarily the losers In this process
8. Strong Defense: Our way of life and successes created great jealousy and envy in those who want its fruits but refuse to dare to pay for them with aforementioned freedoms. Hence we always will need a strong apparatus to defend ourselves
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
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