postmodern putin’s Reviews > The Constitution of Liberty > Status Update

Progression provides no criterion whatever of what is and what is not to be regarded as just. It indicates no halting point for its application, and the 'good judgment' of the people on which its defenders are usually driven to rely as the only safeguard is nothing more than the current state of opinion shaped by past policy.

The complementarity of liberty and responsibility means that the argument for liberty can apply only to those who can be held responsible. It cannot apply to infants, idiots, or the insane. It presupposes that a person is capable of learning from experience and of guiding his actions by knowledge thus acquired; it is invalid for those who have not yet learned enough or are incapable of learning.

Not only are the countries of the West richer because they have more advanced technical knowledge, but they have more advanced technical knowledge because they are richer. And the free gift of the knowledge that has cost those in the lead much to achieve enables those who follow to reach the same level at a much smaller cost.

- if only all of the 3rd worlders could recognize this...