The reason America has been so successful in its history, even including its smooth inception and early transitions, is because it relies on the skill and wisdom of the best. Monarchies and dictatorships rely on the skills of maybe the top three people, not the top three thousand. Communism and socialism done right rely on smothering the best, in both spirit and means to do well. Contrary to popular belief in communism done right, communism brings out the worst in us. Communism where religion is nonexistent, outside influences are nil, and the last ruler has stamped out domestic opposition for at least two generations. It’s not good in theory and poor in practice as people love to say - it reduces humans to little more than robots in theory and any corruption of the theory makes things even worse in practice.
America has always played to the few strengths man as a whole has; the people with vision and motivation to get what they want. America doesn’t rely on their generosity, and it certainly doesn’t rely on their altruism. As great as these people might be, their motivations are still just as selfish as the rest of us, but so long as the best interests of the nation align with their best interest there is no problem. True in many cases the best can still come into positions of power, be it money, influence, or direct authority and have very corrupt motivations, but that corruption does create some level of dissent from the populace that makes it easier for the next guy to kick the incumbent out.
If you aren’t optimistic in humans as a whole, fine, flatten out the highs and lows. Just don’t have any poorly conceived notions that individualism is barbaric and that basing your society on the lowest common denominator is a step towards a utopia. You paint the world in black and white, while the rest of us are willing to put up with some brown to make the oranges and yellows stand out.
America has always played to the few strengths man as a whole has; the people with vision and motivation to get what they want. America doesn’t rely on their generosity, and it certainly doesn’t rely on their altruism. As great as these people might be, their motivations are still just as selfish as the rest of us, but so long as the best interests of the nation align with their best interest there is no problem. True in many cases the best can still come into positions of power, be it money, influence, or direct authority and have very corrupt motivations, but that corruption does create some level of dissent from the populace that makes it easier for the next guy to kick the incumbent out.
If you aren’t optimistic in humans as a whole, fine, flatten out the highs and lows. Just don’t have any poorly conceived notions that individualism is barbaric and that basing your society on the lowest common denominator is a step towards a utopia. You paint the world in black and white, while the rest of us are willing to put up with some brown to make the oranges and yellows stand out.
