Arkadi

Greg--You've just confirmed what I said: our government reflects (however imperfectly) the will of the majority. This regime is called democracy. You preference seems to be oligarchy (or, you might call it aristocracy).

Greg--Our government is not entity unrelated to the people, it is their reflection in a considerable degree.

p.s. (re "Biblical values") St. Paul adds somewhere that he has a great pity for married men as they have to care about pleasing their wives rather than about pleasing God.

Greg--I work for an Ivy League University library.

Greg--Yes, I live in America. Yes, I am Christian but currently do not belong to any church. "In America today, anyone who is a slave only did it to themselves."--Are you ignorant of the genetics' impact on IQ? And of the influence of drugs consumed in childhood, when a person is not yet formed as a person and cannot resist the pressure of their social environment?

Brant--Yes. He benefited but his benefit was not (nor was intended by him to be) material.

Brant--Whatever Jesus was doing, his objective was stated by him explicitly: " “If you continue in My word.., you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” I.e., his goal was influencing others, not material production.

Most slaves also produce more than they consume but they do not benefit from this. Neither did Jesus.

JTS--No, I would not. I might consider my life, not his, to be a failure should I have to pay for his sustenance against my will.

For me, Capitalism is the triumph of the moral sovereignty of the individual. Which implies that nobody, except the person himself, has the moral right to judge whether his life was success or failure. Usurping such right is a trait of totalitarian mentality.

jts-- "If a man can't make a living, that is a failed life."--NO. Such a person would quite literally die. He would not have either failed or successful life. He would not have anything. For a simple reason that he would not be around any more.

p.s. I have to admit, that, personally, I find Greg's criterion ("making more money than you spend") ego-pandering. I'm almost 62 and I never borrowed a single cent in my whole life, nor lived off any inheritance. It looks like I'm admitted to Greg's "good people"'s (a.k.a. American Capitalists) club.

But then, do not refer to the Bible and its values, Greg. For by your measures, its major hero, Jesus, was a failure.

No life is failed "but [one's ill] thinking makes it so."

JTS--"Being unable to make money is a failed life. Money is one of the necessary ingredients of a good life."--This tells it all. No more questions on my part. Thank you.