SFG75
Well-Known Member
navel gazing?....intellectual masturbation?
Marx has had a discernable achievement. For over seventy years, many nations adopted communism in his name(though with their own unique interpretation of it) That is pretty discernable for a man who never lived to his see his works come to political fruition, or to see how his idea would lead the world to the brink of nuclear war in 1961. Yep, pretty small achievement there.
Hume, Descartes, and Locke were responsible for the rise of republican government and the concept of natural rights. Their writings provided the ideas for the founders to create our American republic. The "enlightened despots" sought to improve freedom of speech, petition, and assembly. From the writings of the Baron de Montesquieu, we get the notion that power should be separated into three separate branches. No discernable effect?, not true, quite the opposite in fact.
Ideas come before economic and political decisions. Milton Friedman labored under the shadow of Keynesian theory for many years. Yet, it was his ideas that have ultimately conquered all, at least in the eyes of mainstream economists, the world bank, and other entities. They have at least come to fruition most notably in Hong Kong and to some degree, the U.S. who continue to outpace the rest of the world who have chosen to implement a mixed-economy that guarantees jobs for life and a generous welfare system that kills growth. Compare the unemployment rate of many European nations to the U.S. and Hong Kong and the comparison is painfully obvious.
It isn't necessarily true that those on top always rule. That criticism is overly simplistic when we have had a senator who was a professor and campaigned out of his van(Paul Wellstone) There are a ton of other examples-I assure you that the U.S. senate and House isn't the property of blue bloods, quite the opposite. the number of Smiths vs. Duponts or Rockefellers in it is proof of this. Anyone can have an effect in local politics and wield some influence, it's just a matter of desiring to do so. If you want to run in the upper echelon of politics, then you aim to attend an elite university and make connections. With effort, it can be done. Enlightenment writers never promised to rid the world of inequality, to criticms for it, is to not adequately give them the credit they are due.
Marx has had a discernable achievement. For over seventy years, many nations adopted communism in his name(though with their own unique interpretation of it) That is pretty discernable for a man who never lived to his see his works come to political fruition, or to see how his idea would lead the world to the brink of nuclear war in 1961. Yep, pretty small achievement there.
Hume, Descartes, and Locke were responsible for the rise of republican government and the concept of natural rights. Their writings provided the ideas for the founders to create our American republic. The "enlightened despots" sought to improve freedom of speech, petition, and assembly. From the writings of the Baron de Montesquieu, we get the notion that power should be separated into three separate branches. No discernable effect?, not true, quite the opposite in fact.
Ideas come before economic and political decisions. Milton Friedman labored under the shadow of Keynesian theory for many years. Yet, it was his ideas that have ultimately conquered all, at least in the eyes of mainstream economists, the world bank, and other entities. They have at least come to fruition most notably in Hong Kong and to some degree, the U.S. who continue to outpace the rest of the world who have chosen to implement a mixed-economy that guarantees jobs for life and a generous welfare system that kills growth. Compare the unemployment rate of many European nations to the U.S. and Hong Kong and the comparison is painfully obvious.
It isn't necessarily true that those on top always rule. That criticism is overly simplistic when we have had a senator who was a professor and campaigned out of his van(Paul Wellstone) There are a ton of other examples-I assure you that the U.S. senate and House isn't the property of blue bloods, quite the opposite. the number of Smiths vs. Duponts or Rockefellers in it is proof of this. Anyone can have an effect in local politics and wield some influence, it's just a matter of desiring to do so. If you want to run in the upper echelon of politics, then you aim to attend an elite university and make connections. With effort, it can be done. Enlightenment writers never promised to rid the world of inequality, to criticms for it, is to not adequately give them the credit they are due.
