Thanks for the perceptive comments, John.

MAV - I actually don't mind a bit that you have the beliefs you have, although they're different from mine in a number of areas. I sometimes get quite involved in stating my own beliefs, not in order to change yours really, but in the process of self-discovery, which is an ongoing one.

I realize that many people feel man is inherently competitive. I don't. I feel that mankind is inherently desirous of improving things, reaching toward greater perfection. That can certainly result in competition in any free marketplace where things are being sold, but the essential desire of people is to improve things. To reach for the stars in all fields of endeavour. This is noble.

To deliberately engage in lies, brainwashing, misleading propaganada, slander, and/or violence...which is what happens in an extremely competitive system is not noble, it is ignoble in the extreme. These are things which happen often in current political systems, in organized team sports, and in the world of commercial advertising, etc. It happens most notably in war, which is the ultimate competitive act.

All of that is contrary to Jesus' spiritual teachings, MAV, and I am curious about that, because I get the strong impression that you, and many Republicans consider yourself to be devout Christians.

Jesus never taught people to be competitive, but he did teach them to reach for the highest perfection in every aspect of their lives, and to be merciful toward others, and to share what they had with others.

So did Buddha and Lao-Tse, and all the great religious prophets of ages past. I don't believe any of them taught competition, but they all taught self-improvement.

Many of their followers, however, have gloried in competition, even to the point of killing those whose views differ even in a very minor sense from their own.

A win/win scenario is always better for people than a win/lose one. Better in a marriage. Better in a political system. Better in a divided world.

Your founding fathers were trying to throw off the distant rule of a senile monarch who was out of touch with reality. They succeeded in that objective. What they did not succeed in was to overcome their own ruthless instincts for domination. They created a society perpetually divided against itself from within, and filled with an utter disregard for the territorial rights of all its neighbours...who were: Native Americans all over the continent, Mexicans, Canadians in British North America, black slaves, Central Americans, Carribean peoples, South Americans...anyone who fell under the hammer of Manifest Destiny.

That's what happens when your basic philosophy is survival of the fittest (meaning those with the most guns and money, these days). It's a philosophy for barbarians and conquerors. It is not what Christ taught or recommended to heal the world.

End of theological discussion for today.

Remember: I'm not trying to change you. I'm just discussing things that interest me, that's all. I respect your right to believe what you believe.

Little Hawk out - or...wait...

p.s. by "serving the government", I simply mean that a civil servant should fulfill his governmental duties to the best of his abilities, according to his job description...assuming he agrees with those duties. That is serving the governmental structure that has employed him, and serving the public as well, to the benefit of both, hopefully. If he thinks it's not to the benefit of the public, then he should refuse to do it, and/or resign.

I am not recommending Marxism. I'm recommending a mixed system of private enterprise and socialism, without any political parties whatsoever, but with elected representatives from every region, who form a unified national council that debates issues and passes legislation. If a representative failed to properly represent his area, they would, I'm sure, vote him out next time around. You could even have provisions for recall, if that wasn't good enough.

I know it ain't gonna happen in my lifetime, barring a cataclysm unlike anything that any of us have seen yet...most of us would probably not survive a cataclysm of that dimension, but some of us would.

The present deluded system has so much inertia that I doubt anything else could budge it. That won't stop me from dreaming of a better world.

- LH out