Saturday, April 28, 2018

Hippocrates, “Life is short, art long, opportunity fleeting, experience treacherous, judgment difficult.”

This scholarly work has our tasks cut out for us, if we hope to leave a liberal democracy to our progeny.  
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The article''s power is reduced by he likelihood or certainty that the World will reach a tipping point after which a global warming will be our bequest; will spare no one or country or part of the globe; will make a discussion of the relative benefits of one form of government or another irrelevant.
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I like this article; it points to some weakness in the US system of governance that are fixable if we have the will to fix them, and it is the sort of thing I might have written when I as younger; and still I am struck by the irony of such a effort, published in such a responsible publication, in a world with no future if we don't quickly change global focus onto the environment. What is required is all of us working together, in the time remaining. Otherwise, the likely future lies with the Extremophiles, the next dominant life form on earth.
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"Liberal democracy" is kinder to those who support its major facets than to those who don't.  See  Liberal democracy - Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_democracy.  A caveat: The Wikipedia article is biased in favor of liberal democrats. For example, talk with any person who isn't an Anglo-Saxon Breeder.  Still, the article is useful for discussion.

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Ah well. Hippocrates, “Life is short, art long, opportunity fleeting, experience treacherous, judgment difficult.”
And, on Oahu, Spring has sprung and I have a song in may heart.
       

At the height of World War II, Henry Luce, the founder of Time magazine, argued that the United States had amassed such wealth and power that the twentieth century would come to be known simply as “the American…
FOREIGNAFFAIRS.COM

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