Ethics of the people
As always, any society is always only as good, healthy, sound, caring, powerful, sharing, evil, rich or poor as the sum of the _individual ethics_ of its people!
You can not force a person to _be_ selfish. You can not force a person to _be_ unselfish.
You might be able to force, persuade or train, a person to _act_ selfish or _act _ unselfish.
But in the end, any person will _be_ and _act_ exactly as the sum of their personal ethics and convictions dictate them to be and act!
Which is why I have joined a technology group that live by these simple principles:
"Rule0: Don't act in a way that requires us to create a new rule."
"Guideline0: Membership is free, but to use X you must contribute to X. "
When you think about it:
- No matter your personal political views or personal life style preferences, anyone has the ability to chose to adhere to Rule0 and Guideline0, it is only a matter of individual choice.
- Rule0 has references to: the many dynamics between the individual and the group, and how [ the sum of personal responsible behavior ensures the maximization of individual freedoms, as it minimizes the groups need to intervene with "rules for your own protection].
And this argument is not even based on ethics, morals or religion, it is simple logic and mathematics.
- Guideline0 has a universal reference to relations and dynamics between the individual, the group and any resource.
Since the second world war, it has unfortunately become a wide spread notion, that freedom means that anyone can do and as they please with their "private property". Where as, before the second world war, most leaders and decision makers knew and understood, that any "property" the owned or administered, was handed down from generation to generation, and they would be remembered for how well they managed the resources under their protection, "ownership" and stewardship.
So one may actually be able to evaluate, judge and classify any person, company or government by how well they understand and/or implement Rule0 and Guideline0 in their principles, actions, laws or stewardship of any resource.