tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10032287.post114943605441930759..comments2023-09-08T00:47:50.511-07:00Comments on Naked Reflections: PleasantvilleStevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02549770321948541384noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10032287.post-1149471647938869652006-06-04T18:40:00.000-07:002006-06-04T18:40:00.000-07:00FFH, I agree with you that there can be no "ideal ...FFH, I agree with you that there can be no "ideal life...where regard for the needs of our fellow man are ignored." This is what people on the right fail to understand in their misguided efforts to fashion a capitalist pseudo-utopia where everyone selfishly pursues his or her own ruggedly individualistic interests with an absolute minimum of taxation and government involvement. <BR/><BR/>It seems to me that we need to institute a progressive political philosophy that increasingly balances capitalism with socialism in such a manner that no one need worry about going homeless, hungry or without adequate medical care no matter what while, at the same time, we are all encouraged to work at meaningful jobs and to live meaningful lives that creatively fulfill our individual potentials. <BR/><BR/>It sounds as though Fairhope was an interesting experiment aiming in its own way at this ideal, and it seems to me that certain Scandinavian nations may be ahead of the U.S. in developing toward an economic, social, and cultural ideal. <BR/><BR/>Namaste,<BR/>SteveStevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02549770321948541384noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10032287.post-1149454769816688502006-06-04T13:59:00.000-07:002006-06-04T13:59:00.000-07:00Fairhope, Alabama, was founded as a Utopian commun...Fairhope, Alabama, was founded as a Utopian community in 1894, but not in the Pleasantville sense. It was the brainchild of the followers of Henry George's theory known as Single Tax, a belief that man would be better off without the ability to profit from the sale of land, the one commodity he does not produce and can take no credit for. It was designed for an almost-Socialist system called Cooperative Individualism, that recognized both the need to help one another and the nature of individual man. It has been so corrupted over the years that even though the Single Tax Corporation still exists, it is now run mostly by real estate executives and other proponents of capitalism and the profit motive. The town is still viewed as a ideal, but now it attracts a more practical pioneer -- the retired millionaire and his wife who seek a placid, serene life where no one challenges his right to live in relative oblivion and do exactly what he enjoys. The idealists who founded the town are in the local cemetery, which needs constant care for the graves which contain revolving souls.<BR/><BR/>There is nothing wrong with longing for an ideal life; the problem comes when we ignore that there can be no such thing where regard for the needs of our fellow man is ignored. Art is an attempt to rectify wrongs as clearly as political theory is.Mary Loishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01515655542270431289noreply@blogger.com