I was reading an opinion piece in a local rag a few days ago about those rascally liberty-minded people in NH. Apparently, these people are “liberty or death on steroids” because they voted to abolish public education in a certain rural district. The opinion also said liberty people don’t believe in the “common good.”
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What is the common good? I see many mocking this idea because the phrase has become a battering ram of postmoderns to justify every govt program imaginable. Which isn’t good and should never be common.
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The common good is the well being and growth of a community: The good we share in common to achieve mutually valued goals. Communities are made up of individuals. When the community tramples the individual, common good is not achieved. And when he individuals refuse to participate in his community, the common good is, likewise, not achieved. Just imagine a family where 4 of the 5 members care for each other. But one always lives in his basement and expects his food delivered every day on time. The basement dweller is trampling the rest of the family and the whole family keeps from achieving a healthy family together.
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Here’s our current problem: the postmodern believes that some sort of ideal lies ahead, something conjured up with an invented narrative, in which ze is justified to trample everyone else with taxation, gun control, educational ownership of all children, etc, and call this “democracy.” So ze believes that the “common good” is conformity to zer narrative, regardless if that narrative is immoral or false.
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Liberty is the only starting point for the common good that is both GOOD and moral for each member. Trampling the parts is just as immoral as trampling the whole. We can all choose to love, to persuade, to change course when needed, what is best for our families, how to defend, else we cannot achieve anything common or good. We have a thousand successful examples, both in non-profits and community efforts. We don’t need the violence of “democracy” to force us to work with our neighbors. Our own common goodness and public trust can do this just fine.
.
What is the common good? I see many mocking this idea because the phrase has become a battering ram of postmoderns to justify every govt program imaginable. Which isn’t good and should never be common.
.
The common good is the well being and growth of a community: The good we share in common to achieve mutually valued goals. Communities are made up of individuals. When the community tramples the individual, common good is not achieved. And when he individuals refuse to participate in his community, the common good is, likewise, not achieved. Just imagine a family where 4 of the 5 members care for each other. But one always lives in his basement and expects his food delivered every day on time. The basement dweller is trampling the rest of the family and the whole family keeps from achieving a healthy family together.
.
Here’s our current problem: the postmodern believes that some sort of ideal lies ahead, something conjured up with an invented narrative, in which ze is justified to trample everyone else with taxation, gun control, educational ownership of all children, etc, and call this “democracy.” So ze believes that the “common good” is conformity to zer narrative, regardless if that narrative is immoral or false.
.
Liberty is the only starting point for the common good that is both GOOD and moral for each member. Trampling the parts is just as immoral as trampling the whole. We can all choose to love, to persuade, to change course when needed, what is best for our families, how to defend, else we cannot achieve anything common or good. We have a thousand successful examples, both in non-profits and community efforts. We don’t need the violence of “democracy” to force us to work with our neighbors. Our own common goodness and public trust can do this just fine.
