So...do you believe in the worst of people and not the best?

[The Straight Story]

Do you believe if we all carried guns many more would be dead because the average person (ie, not you) cannot handle having one.

Do you believe the average American is dumb, politically inept, and unable to make sound decisions.

In short I suppose, do you believe most people need more laws to constrain them because the avg joe is inable to live his live in freedom without making it worse for others (ie, we need more laws because people are inherently not able to 'do the right thing')?

I think many corporations believe this - which is why they tap your phones, read your emails, and so on. How do you though feel about this from gun ownership to having a garage sale without a permit on a govermental level? DNA, Guns, and so many things fall around this issue I think (and yeah, I am probably off my rocker).

We believe the worst (our fears) and make laws around those fears to protect ourselves. Just my crappy opinion I am sure, but I wanted to throw it out for discussion and learning.

[Democrats_win]

1. Believe the best, people aren't looking to attack me, no gun required

However, when walking near lawyers, bankers, politicians, oilmen, and businessmen I hold on to my wallet.

[LiberalVoice]

2. I believe the average American is dumb, politically inept, and unable to..

make sound decisions. But, that doesn't mean we need more laws. It means we need a REAL education system. A REAL govt. that is for the people by the people. And with that an understanding that we are not the only ones living on this planet and that we need to take care of this world for future generations.

[The Straight Story]

9. Education is the key - *but* (and there is always a but)

I remember in the 70's the first black family that moved into our 'hood.

There were educated people down at their house en masse telling them to go away, and some families moved the day they came in.

My mom and her best friend made a cake and took it down to them and welcomed them to the area. All this WHILE people were outside yelling. Mom grew up in a small white town in Eastern Ohio, only knew 1 black person - and the people in the education system at the time were not friendly to other races at all.

She learned of her own accord and through her parents to treat others well. Something education can preach, but to me it takes a family to preach.

[DFLer4edu]

3. The average American is dumb

The average American is dumb, politically inept, and unable to make sound decisions. Forget Republicans, at least they vote. I'm talking about the 50% of Americans who don't vote. However, the answer isn't more laws to constrain the people and invade their privacy; the answer is better schools and a greater emphasis on education. A democracy can only function with an educated electorate.

[Mojambo]

4. I certainly always expect the worst. n/t

[Piperay]

18. Me too and

they never disappoint my expectations, sadly. :-(

[BiggJawn]

5. I believe the Average Murkan would strangle in his own saliva...

If he wasn't constantly running his yap about what he heard on Rush's show today...IOW, Homer Simpson.

I think some of it is genetic, but a better educational system (one that teaches SCIENCE, NOT Voodoo!) might help some.

[enki23]

6. i believe that if we all carried guns, more would be dead

because your average person can't *always* handle having one. the idea that people always make rational decisions, that *any* person always makes rational decisions, is downright silly.

i believe the average american is dumb, politically inept, and unable to make sound decisions regarding a great number of things because they lack, on average, both the necessary information and the necessary critical thinking skills to make good ones.

i think that we need some laws to govern all the uncountably diverse situations in which the exercise of one person's rights interferes with the rights of others. and that only refers to those situations in which everyone is engaging in behaviors we would otherwise consider to be their *right* to engage in.

i believe corporations are made up of people who also make as many bad decisions as good. and in any case, they are designed to make decisions based on principles which we generally consider to be unreasonably selfish when adopted by individuals, and which most would agree would make a person--at best--a bad citizen.

i do not believe most, or indeed almost *any*, people are actively "evil" or seriously seek to do "bad" things. but i realize that alone, even if true, would hardly be reason enough to trust them to make decisions which won't harm others anyway. much, if not most, of the harm we do, we do without truly realizing its extent.

and in any case... it seems abundantly clear, based on a very large body of evidence, that the average american is, under many of not most circumstances, an asshole. and i don't believe most people found elsewhere are any better.

[DerekG]

7. I think worse of *people* (not just Americans)

As far as I see it, there's a minority of human beings who are noble/saintly (I've met a few, and they're the only thing that quashes my death wish for humanity), and then there's another faction comprised of bullies/sociopaths/tyrants.

Most of us, however, reside in the middle. We can be decent, but only if our self-interests aren't at stake. Basically, we have to be shown the way. Like cattle. If we have a good leader (President Kucinich sounds damn nice), we'll follow his/her example; if we have a malevolent leader, we become the willing executioners.

[BrklynLiberal]

8. I believe that it is much easier for people to be evil and it takes more

courage and strength to take the high road.

Nowadays it seems that BushCo, etal have made it more socially acceptable to be evil and morally lazy, so people are not compelled to try harder to be "good" and tolerant and have high ideals and do good things for others.

It is very sad.

Remember Milgram's Study?

The Milgram Experiment
A lesson in depravity, peer pressure, and the power of authority
http://www.new-life.net/milgram.htm

Obedience to Authority
The experiment by Stanley Milgram
http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/psychology/milgram_obedience_experiment.html

THE MAN WHO SHOCKED THE WORLD
http://cms.psychologytoday.com/articles/index.php?term=pto-20020301-000037

[The Straight Story]

11. I guess one must then define 'evil' in a social construct

And how does one have moral authority over another?

My own answer to that: Freedom, Love one's neighbor as oneself, and the founding documents shows a simple truth that if one is 'American'.

If you accept that we were all 'created' equal then we are on the path to understanding the difference between good and evil in the context of our lives here on this planet.

Evil may well map to selfishness, while good maps to a broader view of the good of the many versus the good of the few.

Who knows, but could be an interesting subject in and of itself.

[BrklynLiberal]

13. Then good can be defined simply:The Golden Rule. Treat others as you

would choose to be treated yourself.

[cynatnite]

10. I believe the average American is decent...

I think more would be dead if all carried guns mainly because there are too many idiots and we do live in a culture of fear.

I believe the average American to be woefully kept in the dark about important issues because corporate media doesn't do their job adequately. I don't believe they are dumb or unable to make sound decisions. They just don't have the right information to make better decisions.

No, I don't think people need more laws. I blame a lot of it on corporate media who doesn't do their job to inform the public.

[The Straight Story]

12. If the avg knew how little they were getting on the news

Compared to how much there really is to report I would hope they would be as pissed off as we here are.

I have not watched TV news hardly at all since 12/31/04 when mom died so I have not been boxed in by what they are reporting. It is sad when I watch them how little they really cover. Reporters and news agencies have gotten lazy IMHO.

[gumby]

14. I know several people who are dead because they were

innocent bystanders of gun violence.

The question of if people are basically good or bad is the split between conservative and liberal ideology.

Forget ideology. This country should make national health care and world-class education their first mission of National Defense.

Instead of spending the nation's wealth on Weapons of Mass Destruction, this nation should educate and heal the citizens. The rest will follow.

The moneyed interests that now rule this country and the world want just the opposite. The more they oppress the citizenry through financial, health and education deprivation, the more they need "laws" to keep those citizens 'in line.'

Real education and health care are the civil rights of this time.

[Lethe]

15. americans arent dumb

its not so much that the avg citizen is dumb, its just that he is busy working hard hours and taking care of his family, and he views all politicians as corrupt and elitist, and he would be right. So why should he take time out of his work day to stand in line, unpaid, to go and vote for one of two pieces of shit that doesnt care about him anyway?

well?

[tkmorris]

16. Because there are far worse things than an apathetic Govt.

You say that none of the choices on election day care about the voters. There is *some* truth to that, although in the Demnocrats case they have to at least pay lip service to the concerns of normal people. This alone makes them better than Republicans in my book. Even assuming that the average voter believes them to not care however still isn't enough to justify staying home.

Republicans, especially those of the Bush variety, don't simply not care. They HATE you, and want very much to take everything you have while they further their corporate dominance of the world through shedding your childrens blood. They would rather you die than receive health care, unless of course you are rich like them. They want you to buy all their pointless Tommy Hilfiger logoed crap at their company store, and use your company credit card to pay for it all. They want you to mortgage your home to pay off the credit card debt, then when it the debt parade finally comes crashing to a halt they want to take it all back from you leaving you destitute. You are nothing more to them than grist to feed their economic machine so that they can become even richer than they already are. They fucking HATE YOUR GUTS and don't you ever forget it.

Reason enough for you?

[nashville_brook]

17. americans aren't dumb -- they're being played

they've been cornered with debt and fear
they've been cornered with pro-business policies
they've been cornered by corruption
they've been cornered by pro-business media
they've been cornered into gas-guzzling cars
and 45-minute commutes to their gated suburbs
they've been cornered with two-income families
and doing the job of two or three at work b/c of "higher productivity"

there's no where left to go but up and out.