ON BREW MISREPRESENTING ME:

In the previous Post, Brew made an attempt to briefly explain our opinions on a few issues, but didn't do me justice.

ECONOMY:

Brew: "WILL essentially believes that the creation of new wealth (more wealth) is a far more effective means of alleviating economic ills (poverty) than the redistribution of existing wealth."

Harper: "I actually believe that the inclusive creation of new wealth is the sustainable and more effective way of alleviating poverty. Redistribution of wealth may be effective at alleviating symptoms of poverty and serves important purposes, but is not a cure because:

1. Redistribution of wealth will never reach the point that wealth is spread equally enough so that no one is poor.
2. Redistribution of wealth is not creating many new opportunities enabling the poor to no longer need assistance meaning it will always rely on continued redistribution. When times are hardest and redistribution is most needed, it will be the hardest to come by.
   
3. We've tried it and it's not revolutionizing anything. In the communist nations, the worst off may have been better off for a time, but everyone ended up poor. In the rich countries, to the extent that we redistribute wealth, it is assuaging some severe problems, but not making them go away. The poor are not poor because the rich don't share enough. In general the poor are poor because they lack the opportunity to be otherwise.
   

I'm not saying do away with all (or really any of our current) redistributional policies (such as a graduated income tax or welfare), but I am saying we need to create more jobs and opportunities for people who are now excluded from them.

BREW: "Economic responsibility, to Will, means getting rich, investing, and spending money on good things."

HARPER: "I'm not really sure what economic responsibility means, but if I had to say what it was to me, I'd shoot for something more like 'Don't spend more than you have.' I think what Brew is getting at is our conversations about liberal guilt and the idea that if you make a lot of money, its at someone else's expense and that the virtuous thing to do is to not make much money. I don't agree with that at all and think that making a lot of money provides for a lot of opportunities to do good. There are some rich people who are rich at the expense of others, but I think that's an overblown argument. The days of the Robber Barons are ending if not long since over."

RELIGION:

BREW: "WILL does not believe in God and thinks that believing in God is a major problem for the world."

HARPER: "I don't believe in God and already went through my period of anger at religion. One of the things I don't like about it is that it can tend to be divisive. As my dismissal of religion was leading me to be judgmental and dismissive of religious people, I have since given up being angry. Lots of people are religious and will continue to be. I have a deep understanding of religious faith and would rather work with people who are trying to do good through and because of faith than against them. I have no opinion about whether it is good or bad, because I think that's an irrelevant issue. It is, what do we do with it?"


HUMANITARIANISM:

BREW: "I think we all agree that more food, more medicine, more water, etc. for more people is a good thing."

HARPER: "Agreed. And I would like to point out that those are pie growing activities."

POLITICS:

BREW: "I think we’re all left-leaning idealists who assume that democracy is a good thing which can and should be implemented on a global scale."

WILL: "I'm not sure that I really lean in any direction. My main political concern is the lot of the disadvantaged. I think both democracy and capitalism should be implemented on a global scale as both are engines of incredible increases in general welfare, but obviously don't think its as easy as 'just doing it.'"

"As far as being an idealist, I am in the sense that I am an optimist and think that we have the potential to create and sustain tremendous positive change and still want to dedicate myself to that. I am not in the sense that I think we let "the ideal" get in the way of what actually works. I am chiefly interested in doing what works."