This may sound at first like a political debate, alltough that is not nessesarally my intent, what I would like to do is open up a diologe about the philosophical furture of the world we live in today. This could also include things that will be done by nessesity as the world changes, or technologies change etc or about evoluntionary changes, even self directed ones. I think its well worth looking at considering how Classism seems to also be on the rise.

Personal autonomy is on the rise in Europe in some places as a current and future life philosophy, paticularly amongst the Dutch.

Is this preferential to other philosophical modalities at work today and is so, in what ways?

The Personal Autominists say:

To be autonomous is to be a law to oneself; autonomous agents are self-governing agents. Most of us want to be autonomous because we want to be accountable for what we do, and because it seems that if we are not the ones calling the shots, then we cannot be accountable. More importantly, perhaps, the value of autonomy is tied to the value of self-integration. We don't want to be alien to, or at war with, ourselves; and it seems that when our intentions are not under our own control, we suffer from self-alienation. What conditions must be satisfied in order to ensure that we govern ourselves when we act? Philosophers have offered a wide range of competing answers to this question.
Many things have been legalized in the Netherlands allowing the people themselves to decide if they wish to partake of them or not.

This has also bled over into the adherence of the people in their country to organized religions...lowering it by a considerable margin (somthing Thorne will love I think..winks to Thorne).

Here is a tidbit from Vince Robertson I found to be a good example of some of what I am talking about, or plan to be talking about, though perhaps with a less direct political sounding vien and with less of a focus on the usa so much as the world:


"I continue to hear accusations that President Barack Obama is making our great country a socialist country. I would like to explore this debate.

Many times over the past 6 months I've heard the argument that Big Government is the precursor to socialism and ultimately communism. This is certainly un-American!

Those making the argument typically take the position that if socialism and communism are on one end of the spectrum, then we who love God and country should run as fast and as far as we can to the other end of the spectrum. In my crude, text-graphic format, this is what the spectrum looks like:

<-----|-------------|------------ ----------------------------------
Communism Socialism Run!!! ->
Let me be clear, I am not making the case for communism nor for socialism, but I believe that clear thinking individuals need to understand the complete argument.

The facts are that there are opposites of communism and socialism, and I propose to you that the opposites are class oppression and slavery.

Class oppression, or classism, is defined as mistreatment on the basis of socioeconomic class. Slavery is blatant abuse and oppression to the benefit of the master.

Understanding this, the spectrum is more accurately represented as:

<---|------------|---------------- ----------------|------------|--->
Communism Socialism Classism Slavery

When this is understood, the question is no longer how far do we as Americans want to get away from Communism, but rather where is the proper balance? I believe this is the heart of the intelligent debate.

I often hear arguments that free markets are the key to prosperity. It has been shown over and over again that some people, when given the tools to succeed, have created wealth for themselves and those around them. But what happens when this is taken to the extreme?

The problem with all-out free markets is that this inevitably leads to bullying, tyranny, and the absolute dominance of the strongest.

You may wonder what is wrong with this. It is after all the survival of the fittest and the most deserving. Or is it the survival of the greediest and most corrupt?

I suggest that it is the later. Without laws preventing all-out free market, we would have forced child labor, monopolies, price fixing, racketeering, extortion, bribery, price gouging, and human slavery. These are all capitalist endeavors, and all have legal restrictions in the United States. Indeed we should stay away from this end of the spectrum as well.

Abraham Lincoln was considered a proponent of Big Government as the Civil War was technically over the Federal Government's right to control individual states’ ability to secede. Outlawing slavery was merely the issue that brought about the desire for the South to secede from the North. I suspect if Abraham Lincoln was President of America today, this conservative President would be accused by Conservatives of moving our country toward socialism.

In the same way, I don’t believe the case has been made that President Obama is trying to make the United States of America a socialist country. He is merely trying to move our country away from the classism and slavery end of the spectrum.

To further this point, it occurs to me that the ones making the most noise about President Obama moving the country toward Socialism are the same ones who constantly argue that our country needs to return to the values of our Founding Fathers. While a great deal of respect is due to this country’s Founding Fathers, many of them regarded slavery as an acceptable practice. Is this what we want to return to?

Personally I believe the proper balance in the spectrum which we need to work for would be for our country to be a place where individuals are likely to succeed if they work hard, where individuals are allowed to fail miserably if they are lazy and choose not to work, and if they work hard and experience hardships that make them fail, they don’t have to worry about losing everything for the rest of their lives. This is not where America is today.

The United States of American going socialist would be a terrible thing, but I believe the angst of this happening today is unsupportable. The likely instigators of such accusations are political wonks, bent on using fear and hatred as a means to political gain."


Could Personal Autonomy as it's practiced amongst the Dutch perhaps be the happy middle ground we all seek on an ideological level?