>>> all individuals get to pursue a meaningful life irrespective of who they are.
With respect, politely, and hopefully persuasively, I will suggest that this is a grossly inadequate core value. It is actually just a statement of fact. All individuals, even those imprisoned in poverty, or actually in prison, are free to pursue a mean…
>>> all individuals get to pursue a meaningful life irrespective of who they are.
With respect, politely, and hopefully persuasively, I will suggest that this is a grossly inadequate core value. It is actually just a statement of fact. All individuals, even those imprisoned in poverty, or actually in prison, are free to pursue a meaningful life. And society has no obligation to make outcomes equal - to make everyone a millionaire. But one of the most critical problems in our society is that a huge fraction of our populace does not have a reasonable prospect of success in pursuing a meaningful, happy, fulfilled life because of conditions outside their control - the relative wealth of their parents, their race, their ethnicity, their gender or orientation, etc. I have joined because I think I understand where you are trying to go, and I am willing to support well-intentioned efforts even if I am not in agreement with every detail. But if you want to keep me long-term, I'll have to be convinced that the group's core values include crafting a society where all individuals are not just "free to pursue" but have a reasonable opportunity to actually *achieve* a life of meaning, happiness and reasonable material success. Historically (and you do a good job of making this point) liberal society has extolled the values of freedom, free thought, intellectual debate while turning a blind eye to inequalities of opportunity. One of the great challenges of our age is how to continue to promote these liberal values, but to refuse to accept that the price of these values is a society without equal opportunity. "Free speech" is a wonderful value to have when your stomach is full, when your child can go to college, when your dad can get the surgery he needs. If your children do not have the opportunity to live a meaningful life, cannot get into or afford good higher education, and are systematically oppressed, "free speech" is really pretty worthless. To be clear, I believe in a fairly absolutist version of free speech. But it't not enough for a society to guarantee everyone free speech if we can't also guarantee they have a chance of achieving whatever they consider the good life to be.
>>> all individuals get to pursue a meaningful life irrespective of who they are.
With respect, politely, and hopefully persuasively, I will suggest that this is a grossly inadequate core value. It is actually just a statement of fact. All individuals, even those imprisoned in poverty, or actually in prison, are free to pursue a meaningful life. And society has no obligation to make outcomes equal - to make everyone a millionaire. But one of the most critical problems in our society is that a huge fraction of our populace does not have a reasonable prospect of success in pursuing a meaningful, happy, fulfilled life because of conditions outside their control - the relative wealth of their parents, their race, their ethnicity, their gender or orientation, etc. I have joined because I think I understand where you are trying to go, and I am willing to support well-intentioned efforts even if I am not in agreement with every detail. But if you want to keep me long-term, I'll have to be convinced that the group's core values include crafting a society where all individuals are not just "free to pursue" but have a reasonable opportunity to actually *achieve* a life of meaning, happiness and reasonable material success. Historically (and you do a good job of making this point) liberal society has extolled the values of freedom, free thought, intellectual debate while turning a blind eye to inequalities of opportunity. One of the great challenges of our age is how to continue to promote these liberal values, but to refuse to accept that the price of these values is a society without equal opportunity. "Free speech" is a wonderful value to have when your stomach is full, when your child can go to college, when your dad can get the surgery he needs. If your children do not have the opportunity to live a meaningful life, cannot get into or afford good higher education, and are systematically oppressed, "free speech" is really pretty worthless. To be clear, I believe in a fairly absolutist version of free speech. But it't not enough for a society to guarantee everyone free speech if we can't also guarantee they have a chance of achieving whatever they consider the good life to be.