Now, now, Ivan. Just because folks in this room see though your thinly disguised hatred of Ann Rynd, you shouldn't get mad and make fun of my ignorance and obesity. I'm at least smart enough to gather enough food to feed myself to excess.
Your post is contradictory and poorly thought out. You say that basic human greed has overridden the world order. Doesn't that mean that basic human greed is the world order? One group of folks exploiting another? Has it ever been different? Isn't it what you should expect? It has always been that way, why should it change? If someone sells their farm, gives up their land, gives up their birthright in the pursuit of toys or leisure or $18.00 worth of beads or an iron cook pot or a bowl of soup, why is it my fault? What obligation do I have to feed them or say "Gee, you really were stupid. But that's okay. We'll give you back your money/soup/land/birthright/etc so you can keep breeding SO YOU CAN DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN." My whole idea is based on keeping those people FROM breeding.
Say what you will about the colonial imperialism in Africa. While it existed, Africa had a higher standard of living than they do now. They had stability as long as the Europeans had their foot on their necks and laws in place. Now, after over 50 years of self-rule, they are still running amok, killing and eating one another. They have to hire outsiders at extravagant wages to run their infrastructure because when they send their best and brightest out to be educated, their best and brightest are smart enough to not come back. (and too, if you read a bit of African history before the coming of the white man, it wasn't much different than it is now unless you're talking about northern Africa) I guess that's our fault too.
Let me say quickly that there is no such thing as a free gift! No such thing as a free ride. Sooner or later, the piper has to be paid!. It is a law of Nature. It is the basis of the Real Cost Principle. If you go down to the mission to get a "free" bowl of soup, you're damn sure gonna have to listen to the preaching before you get that bowl of soup. If I give someone a biscuit from my table, that means there is one less biscuit for my children to eat. That's okay, I've plenty of biscuits. But what happens when the person to whom I've given a biscuit brings a friend? And then another. What happens when those people vastly outnumber my family and they aren't begging biscuits, they're demanding biscuits? What is that free biscuit about to cost me?
I lived around and knew quite a few Amish while I lived in Oklahoma. They're standoffish only because most folks look at them like they're simple or got two heads or something. Then, when they get their heads together, they laugh at how funny the English are. They're a very practical people. The Amish in Ok, can use tractors for the simple reason that a man and a team of horses can't cultivate enough ground to make a living in our poor soil like they can up in Pa. I knew one family that built a cellar and roofed it over and lived in it for 5 years while saving up enough money to build the rest of it. They are also a paradox. The ones in Ok will not drive a car but they will ride in one. They will fly on a plane. The main thing I admire about the Amish and it would be a good lesson to us all is they have a firm idea about the difference between a WANT and a NEED. Because the TV sez you gotta have it, don't mean you do.
If your remarks about the Amish merely means that you are espousing a simpler life, I daresay there isn't anyone in this room that won't agree with you. And its an easy thing to do. Just start unplugging stuff. How far you want to go into the dark ages is up to you. Luxuries aren't bad in and of themselves, if you recognize them for what they are. You ideas aren't new. They cycle thru every so often. And some of the ideas are good. The extreme lashing-out at corporate imperialism is usually from some ill-prepared loser though.
You don't have to own a farm to be self sufficient. You would be surprised at how much food can be grown on just a small plot. And too, every farming village has to have a blacksmith, a cobbler. So self sufficiency doesn't have to mean tilling the soil but it does mean you must prepare yourself through education, or training to be an exploitor and not an exploitee. Remember, it is not the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, nor the baker that feeds us, but rather their self interest.
I'll give you a "C" on construction; an "F" on content.
