On Thu, Jun 7, 2012 at 12:10 AM, joseph berg <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Wed, Jun 6, 2012 at 4:13 AM, William Conger <[email protected]>wrote: > >> Re: Berg's comment below ..... >> >> >> "But doesn't self-interest eventually evolve into special interests who >> try >> to influence the decision-maker with money?" >> >> I reply: >> >> That seems to be the case nowadays but the USA Founding Fathers had the >> notion >> of Virtue, which to them meant that a moral sense of the good (good for >> the >> country and good for all) would always trump excessive self interest. >> Their >> arguments were centered on scale. They believed that local situations in >> society and commerce would exaggerate self interest at the expense, >> sometimes, >> of the larger society and thus a Federal government with a larger national >> viewpoint would offset those local interests. Thus the 'narrow interest' >> states were balanced against the central government. The early leaders >> tended >> to be rich, independent men who presumably couldn't be 'bought' by private >> interests but of course they tended to represent 'property' interests >> anyway, >> but not as blatantly as today. Nobody talks about Virtue anymore in the >> same >> sense that the founding fathers imagined it.... > > > > When it comes to those virtuous Founding Fathers, the following may be of > interest: > > - Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder. > > George Washington > Doesn't this indicate that the Founding Fathers had no illusions about human nature?: - If men were angels, no government would be necessary. James Madison
