It's a great day to be alive.
It lifted my spirits to look at the beautiful view out my window this morning.
Near the Amherst Survival Center where I work in selfless service to humanity (translation: for free) is this symbol of the American Dream; pretty flowers in front of a white picket fence.
After my shift at the Survival Center I went to UMass, where some of the students were just hanging out enjoying the sunshine.
Other students were calling for the liberation of Tibet at a rally in front of the Student Union.
One protester was displaying gross pictures of people allegedly tortured for wanting freedom for Tibet.
The campus police were nearby, but the rally was peaceful.
Monks were posing with a picture of the Dalai Lama.
Last year around this time the Dalai Lama came and spoke at Smith College. Here is a video of him arriving at the Hotel Northampton.
The Dalai Lama seems like an okay guy for a dude who runs around the world in flowing robes blessing everybody. But a government under him would still be a religious dictatorship, and history has shown that no matter how benignly these things start out they always end badly.
Since whoever controls your money controls your life, economic liberty is essential for all other forms of liberty. Free markets and free minds are self re-enforcing - you can't sustain one without the other. Capitalism is the only system that allows you to produce products or sell your skills as you wish and to keep the money you earn doing so. Therefore, no society can be called free that has any other economic system other than capitalism.
Also, no government is legitimate where those who must obey the laws are not allowed to participate in making them. Therefore no society can be considered free that does not practice democracy.
Therefore, the only form of civilization that provides for the maximum freedom and the highest level of well-being for the most people is a system embracing a capitalist democracy.
Unless that is what the goal of the free Tibet movement is, then their talk of liberation is just so much blather. 
Here is a song of freedom.
2 comments:
A Beautiful Photo.
Your Right Of Course Tommy.Nobody Seems To Think Beyond The Dalai Lama gaining Power.
A Lot of his ways are Flawed.
I,m not sure if I agree about current capitalism being the only way....sure enough, it's the only good show in town.at present.........but ,then, maybe We need to change as well as the Tibetians?
Hi Tom.
Hope all is going well in your life. Sounds like you have a great outlook on life. Spring & Summer should keep you upbeat since you're an outdoor person.
I have a question. I'm probably not the brightest bulb on the Family Tree, but something puzzles me. Amherst is probably the "Protest Capitol of the Northeast". But aren't protests supposed to accomplish something? Like when students protest something they don't like either with the Town or the College, they "Protest" until the Authorities take notice and a meeting is held and things are resolved.
But what's with the "Free Tibet" protests? To whom are they "Protesting"? While this may (Or may Not) be a worthwhile cause, who's listening? Isn't that the point of a protest? Get someone to listen and change whatever is wrong? What can we do to "Free Tibet"?
Now I find it hard to believe that the same "Protesters" (That to me seem like Pacifists) would actually expect us to engage in violence to help Tibetans out. So what is their real point in all of this? Is it just another "Feel Good" Club out there socializing in the nice weather, or do they have a real agenda to "Free Tibet". Would be nice, but I don't think bringing the Tibetans plight to the Amherst Public will accomplish much.
Now if they want to join a Protest, they should go to N.Y. and join Al Sharpton in the protest againd the killing of the Groom to be. Anytime the Cops put 30 some odd rounds into an unarmed person and the Cops are found "Not Guilty" I suspect a cover up. This is the beginning of the Summer season. It may be a long hot Summer in N.Y. because of this. But I can understand their anger. And being N.Y. and the Harlem area, the protests will be anything but peaceful.
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