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Entry: Correcting Richard Link: http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/correcting_richard#25929 Post contents: It would be nice if one could expect people to adhere to the preconditions Ariana sees as necessary for a successful democracy: “a willingness to see the general interest above the particular interest of family, ethnic group, religion, or social class”. If we could expect this, then even communism would work fine. We have to come to understand, as the founding fathers obviously did, that people act out of self-interest, and that their interest diminishes, the more the other members of the group differ from oneself. That’s why they did not endorse democracy as a suitable form of government for the Union and limited voting rights to people, who had shown the ability to carry responsibility by caring for a family without relying on the largesse of others. While one can argue if their restriction to land-owning males is the best measuring stick for this, one can agree that people will inevitably vote themselves benefits, when allowed to do so, and ultimately this will end in the looting of the public treasury and the pockets of their neighbors. Somehow I feel that Europe is already there and we are getting close. Sent at: 2008 05 16