Date: Thu, 21 Aug 2008 01:47:31 -0700 (PDT)
From: Carvalho <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
To begin with, just within the last one month, we have
witnessed how good intentions alone cannot "Save Goa".
The break-up of the GBA and the unsavoury dissection
of the Toronto Goan Convention are indications of how
difficult it is to manage democratic endeavour. This
waiting for a Saviour concept, is comforting but
plebeian. In a democracy, one simply has to plough
ahead, show a willingness to embrace change and try
hard to achieve consensus. Democracies are not
everyone's own individual pipe dreams materializing.
They have to produce the greatest good for the
greatest number of people. Like their consort,
capitalism, they may seem heartless, ruthless and even
chaotic at times, but if history is our guide, they
are the most effective form of governance, given the
alternatives.
>
Mario responds:
>
Well said. The goal of an enlightened democracy
should be to produce the greatest good for the
greatest number of people. The key is to have an
informed and enlightened electorate, not an apathetic
one, and politicians and bureaucrats who are basically
honest.
>
As you may have noticed I tried to playfully chide
Wendell because he is essentially a highly successful
capitalist by all accounts, with good intentions.
However, as a creative person who thinks outside the
box as an individual [:-))] he has a tendency to get
carried away emotionally and therefore falls for
popular Indian platitudes that all that is necessary
is that "we, who truly care for Goa" be UNITED by our
inherently good intentions, form a NEW political
party, hold hands and sing Kum-ba-ya on Anjuna Beach,
and Goa will soon return to its formerly pristine
condition, like Sri Lanka, Switzerland and the
Canadian wilderness:-))
>
Of course the new pristine Goa will have electricity
with underground cables, indoor plumbing and modern
septic systems or sewers, which have paradoxically
made our traditional sorpotel and vindaloo less tasty
by some accounts:-))
>
The central planning by supposedly wise elites caused
Marxism/Leninism to fail because they took away the
collective wisdom of millions of ordinary people
seeking what is best for themselves and their
families, and their natural desire to strive and grow
and be uniquely successful. Even worse, it required
brutal and dictatorial repression by the government to
force the population to comply with their directives,
because basic human nature yearns to be free.
>
The recent column by Tom Sowell, titled "Amateurs
Outdoing Professionals" explains succinctly how this
works:
>
http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2008/08/20/amateurs_outdoing_professionals
>
Capitalism essentially helps people to help themselves
and teaches them to be as independant as they can be,
especially from government bureaucrats and
politicians, whose subconscious career advancement
comes, not from solving their problems, but on their
problems getting worse, thereby increasing their
relative importance.
>
Describing capitalism as heartless is like describing
a teacher who demands that her students understand
their subject as heartless, or a parent teaching a
child right from wrong as heartless, as compared with
just pushing the students through or spoiling a child
and making it dependant on the parents or society as
the Marxist/Leninists would prefer.
>
"Democracy is the worst form of government except for
all those others that have been tried." - Winston
Churchill
>
"The scariest words in the English language are, 'I'm
from the government and I'm here to help you.'" -
Ronald Reagan.
>
