Capt. Samuel Wallis of HMS Dolphin being received by the Queen of Otaheite, July 1767Can we make a paradise here, instead of looking for it in a different country?
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Back to Eden
Capt. Samuel Wallis of HMS Dolphin being received by the Queen of Otaheite, July 1767Can we make a paradise here, instead of looking for it in a different country?
10 comments:
Unfortunately, because of a plague of spam comments, you need to be a "registered user", otherwise your observations will be buried in a torrent of multilingual nonsense. Please do comment!
Say what you please, so long as it's phrased politely and is not libellous or legally proscribed. Fact, reason and wit are keenly welcomed.
Of course we can make a paradise here. Just needs some vision and political will.
ReplyDeleteAren't the politicians part of the problem?
ReplyDeleteThere is a conflict between efficiency and equity after a certain point which manifests itself in moral hazard when it reduces incentives to produce wealth.
ReplyDeleteThen there are not, by definition, positional goods enough to go round.
And selfish human nature, ever- Militant, is destructive of any utopia.
Thank you, HG; a typically considered and pithy response.
ReplyDeleteI wonder whether the key is having a socially unifying mythos that channels the impulses you have identified: rewards for the deserving, charitable sharing, limitation of conflict, mutual respect between the social degrees.
I understand that research into communes found that the ones that lasted longest had a religious basis - just the thing that the Left (perhaps with good intentions, perhaps not) has done its best to weaken in this country. Shome mishtake on their part, shurely?
Some of us already live in God's own paradise ...
ReplyDeleteYou asked (somewhere) where I got my flying Welsh flag from: I have no idea. I've had it a long time. I found it on the net somewhere originally. Probably just searched for Welsh flag.
Liz:
ReplyDeleteThanks - found the flag, as you see - by clicking on yours!
I know what you mean - significant you have to pay to cross the Severn into Wales, not out.
Wales seems to have resisted the rise of the supermarkets and mini-offshoots, at least in the smaller communities. Maybe that's one of the reasons why it's still got some character.
Well, they laughed at Noah, didn't they?
ReplyDeleteSir P: you imply that all earthly paradises are doomed? Or that a new covenant can be made?
ReplyDeleteThe comment about Wales resistance has got me wondering if that would be a good place to live. I've always had some romantic feelings about it...just hearing the name makes me think of misty, rolling hills and rustic cottages with warm wood stoves.
ReplyDeletePeace today.
~ RS ~
Welcome, RS. There are still some lovely places, though some say the South Walians are friendlier. You'll know it's the right place for you if it seems lovely to you in all seasons and every kind of weather. Visit often to be sure.
ReplyDelete