moralist

Well, like I said... what you become as the result of what you achieve in your life is the only accurate indicator of the value of discussing Aristotle. School teaches you what to think. The world teaches you how to do. Greg

That depends on the person. There is entertainment and there is achievement. Some people find achievement entertaining.. Greg

Yes. Weak dependent failures can never be happy because their own failure drives happiness from their life. Free men are happy because the achievement of earning it makes them happy. Freedom is earned by doing what's morally right. Greg

Climbing a mountain is action. Discussing Aristotle is talk. And yes, I would call mountain climbing entertainment. It's a real world physical challenge, assuming risk of injury or even death, and emotional drama... all which can be very entertaining. Greg

In America today "life liberty and the pursuit of happiness" are God given rights no one can revoke from the man who lives a life deserving of them. Whoever who fails to live a decent responsible productive life has already forfeited those rights by his own choice. Note that happiness is not a guaranteed right in itself, only the right to pursue it. In America today, doing honest useful productive work creates wealth which buys freedom. There can be no individual independence without first working to earn your own economic independence. Greg

Eating caviar (yuck), playing golf, and travelling around the world are impossible without first doing productive work in order to create the wealth with which to buy them. Discussing Aristotle is different from those other activities in that it doesn't cost anything to do it. But that's ok because every activity has a point, so what do you personally gain from it? If it's just for the sake of entertainment, that's totally valid because those other activities are also done for entertainment. Greg

That's fine, Arkadi. And what you have actually accomplished in your own life as a result of those discussions will be the only accurate indicator of their true value. Greg

Well, that's where we differ. Capitalism is the foundation of American freedom. I define Capitalism as a specific set of ethical laws which govern the acquisition and use of private property... and a free market of fair, equitable, win/win, value for value, exchange with others. No one who fails to be sufficiently ethical to produce more than they consume will ever be free. Notice that this principle operates independently of surveillance. Anyone who has a computer or a smartphone connected to the internet is a fool if they believe they have any privacy. Greg

Yes, I can... and I do. I'm free to work to create wealth by producing useful goods and services, and free to use that wealth to refine the quality of my life. Surveillance, even if it exists, is irrelevant. There can be no real freedom in America without first working to earn your own economic freedom. Greg

She didn't... because America isn't the moochers or the government employee looters... ...it's independent self motivated productive individual Americans. Greg

Yes. Violence requires a human to experience it . Minus that it's just amoral energy and matter. Greg

Indeed, Peter. Reality proves itself. Bloated bloviating self aggrandizing intellectual theories are powerless to alter reality... ...because reality is greater than ourselves. Greg

Well said, Jerry. The recent events serve to demonstrate how politically correct secular liberals are not only powerless to stop European cultural assimilation by Islam... ...they are its allies. Greg

Her influence is powerless to affect collectives... however, she does influence individuals to make their own world around them a freer place. Greg

You have just succinctly summed up the wealth creating virtue of American Capitalism. Greg

For me, the only way I found to be able to enjoy my lifestyle by protecting myself from the conundrum you just described... is to be an American Capitalist. Creating wealth in my own business makes it possible to float above inflation by operating on the production side of the ledger instead of being trapped solely on the consumer side, where as an end user I'd be drowning in inflation without any recourse to balance my losses with gains. Greg

...and from the wealth which passes through government's hands, a fee is extracted to perpetuate and grow the bureaucracy. In this way, the cost of government is built into every product purchased and every service rendered... ...but the government did NOT create that wealth. It can only parasitically FEED on that wealth... ...because parasites have "fundamentally transformed" government into their own image. Greg

I have a whole point on government spending, Wolf. The purpose of government has degenerated into transfering wealth from one person to another... all the while skimming hefty fees off the top to perpetuate and to grow the transfer bureaucracy. This third party bureaucracy is the reason why government education, and government healthcare have become so expensive. A third party is sucking off of every transaction. This is so only because so many people have degenerated into collectivist babies who need "mommie" to take care of them. Entitlements are more addictive than cocaine. Once benefits junkies get hooked they feel rightfully entitled to them, and will scream like little babies if they are taken away from them. This is why, when once given, entltlements are very rarely taken away. Government benefits are an inexorably clicking ratchet which only turns one way. They're even called entitlements because most people feel entitled to them. What you're actually saying is that every dime of your own income was derived from government, one way or another. It's perfectly normal for you to believe that everyone else is just like you are. Except the reality is that I live by different standards than you do, so my actions are different from yours, and they set into motion different results in my life than yours do in your life. This difference explains while I was working to build my own Galt's Gulch, you were getting swindled by your own liberal utopian fantasies of feeling entitled to others building Galt's Gulch for you. So quite naturally, the results of my actions are completely different from the results of your own. I have tangible results to show for mine, while you have nothing to show for yours. By the objective reality of moral law, the results are perfectly just for both of us. I deserve the results of living by my values by virtue of exactly the same operating principles that you deserve the results of your living by your values.. I know you don't realize this, but you are the reason why all utopias fail. By your own moral failure you got taken by swindlers who live by exactly the same secular libertine standard of values you live by. It's poetic justice. "The men of intelligence desert him, but the cheats and the frauds come flocking to him, drawn by a law which he has not discovered: that no man may be smaller than his money." Greg

I'm not the only one, Bob. There are other good Americans who don't need your mommie government like you do.. but they're in a small minority. You belong to the overwhelming majority. That's why your liberal socialist benefits dispensing bureaucracy is so large. Too many fat piglets sucking the teat. Greg

I have a different view on Social Security. I'm happy the government gives me back even some of my own inflated money. We don't need it so we save it up and use it to buy optional amenities. We just used it to buy a new wood stove even though our old 30+ year is in good condition. It's made in Sweden and is really small (only 15" x15") and hardly takes up any space. But it has the latest in clean burn technology so it heats our whole house with just a few small chunks of wood. It's our only source of home heat and does it for nothing because We get all the free firewood we want from our local tree trimmer who would normally have to pay to haul it to the landfill. I also have a different view of the banking system... I like our bank. It cashes all my checks and their credit card is free. What more could anyone want? I basically have nothing to do with the rest of the banking system because I keep my credit card balance at zero and have no loans. So I couldn't care less if their interest rates are 1% or 100%. It doesn't matter to me what the international bankers do because I have no control over what they do and so am not responsible for their actions. However, I do have control and responsibility for my own finances which are unaffected by bankers because I only deal in cash and not in credit or debt. So as they inflate the currency I simply raise my rates. American independence isn't just some lofty unattainable ideal that can be withheld from you by others. It's real for everyone who works to earn it. Greg

Straw man, Peter. I'm not talking about social security. That's just people getting back their own money they paid into it after the government has devalued it with decades of inflation. The upper classes have private medical insurance. Good Americans don't need government to be their mommie... only parasites do. Greg

People who choose to reject being governed internally by their own Conscience need cameras to govern them externally. They need someone or something else to watch them because they lack the englihtened self awareness to observe themselves so as to temper their own behavior. As a group but not many individual exceptions, blacks have rotten moral values which have become embedded into their culture. Their rotten vlues go hand in hand with being secular leftists. Greg

That's a question a renter would ask. Greg

An empty baseless claim, Wolf. Greg

Your secular derision of morality explains why you have f**k all to show for your life, Wolf. Greg