3 ms·

> I’m betting it will be so unpopular as to be impossible People have said the same thing about gutting Social Security, but it seems like that's on the choppi

by tdeck 2y ago

> I’m betting it will be so unpopular as to be impossible People have said the same thing about gutting Social Security, but it seems like that's on the chopping block right now unfortunately.

FredPret 2y ago
Social Security is very popular but hasn’t been baked into the Western soul for the past 1-2k years like the idea of personal agency & liberty has. In addition, SS requires a budget so is more open to controversy. Respecting individuals is free; violating their rights requires a budget as well.
- Avshalom 2y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_slave_trade https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_slave_trade Whose personal agency and liberty?
  - FredPret 2y ago
    Slavery was always widespread; it was Westerners who saw the moral inconsistency between their self-image and owning slaves, and then fought wars with one another and others to end it globally. The journey from serfdom to modern human rights was a long one, but it had a clear upward trend.
- gessha 2y ago
  > personal agency & liberty Those two were very suppressed under monarchy and the Christian religion. It wasn’t until modern secularism that those two truly blossomed.
  - FredPret 2y ago
    Even so there were clear steps in the right direction. Monarchs grew steadily more circumscribed from a de jure point of view. Eventually they became constitutional monarchs, then mere figureheads. Their de facto power also went from absolute steadily downward. The same trend happened with Christianity: at one time the Pope was so powerful, he broke up the Holy Roman Empire. But there were many reformations, revolutions, Protestantism. There's a clear trend of decentralization across the entire West, spanning a thousand years - because of individuals insisting on what we now call their inalienable human rights.

3 ms·

> I’m betting it will be so unpopular as to be impossible People have said the same thing about gutting Social Security, but it seems like that's on the choppi

by tdeck 2y ago

> I’m betting it will be so unpopular as to be impossible People have said the same thing about gutting Social Security, but it seems like that's on the chopping block right now unfortunately.

FredPret 2y ago
Social Security is very popular but hasn’t been baked into the Western soul for the past 1-2k years like the idea of personal agency & liberty has. In addition, SS requires a budget so is more open to controversy. Respecting individuals is free; violating their rights requires a budget as well.
- Avshalom 2y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_slave_trade https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_slave_trade Whose personal agency and liberty?
  - FredPret 2y ago
    Slavery was always widespread; it was Westerners who saw the moral inconsistency between their self-image and owning slaves, and then fought wars with one another and others to end it globally. The journey from serfdom to modern human rights was a long one, but it had a clear upward trend.
- gessha 2y ago
  > personal agency & liberty Those two were very suppressed under monarchy and the Christian religion. It wasn’t until modern secularism that those two truly blossomed.
  - FredPret 2y ago
    Even so there were clear steps in the right direction. Monarchs grew steadily more circumscribed from a de jure point of view. Eventually they became constitutional monarchs, then mere figureheads. Their de facto power also went from absolute steadily downward. The same trend happened with Christianity: at one time the Pope was so powerful, he broke up the Holy Roman Empire. But there were many reformations, revolutions, Protestantism. There's a clear trend of decentralization across the entire West, spanning a thousand years - because of individuals insisting on what we now call their inalienable human rights.