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From: baba@spar.UUCP (Baba ROM DOS)
Newsgroups: net.politics.theory
Subject: Re: What is "capitalism"? (Explorations of "self-interest")
Message-ID: <320@spar.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 12-Jun-85 01:28:35 EDT
Article-I.D.: spar.320
Posted: Wed Jun 12 01:28:35 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 14-Jun-85 00:22:50 EDT
References: <298@spar.UUCP> <2380028@acf4.UUCP>
Organization: Schlumberger Palo Alto Research, CA
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> >/* flink@umcp-cs.UUCP (Paul V. Torek) /  4:38 pm  Jun  9, 1985 */
> 
> >Not necessarily.  What I want, even the rather abstract "achievement of
> >Y", may not really be best for me.  What is best for me is something I
> >discover (not invent) through experience; and I may (and often do)
> >discover that my goals were mistaken.
> 
> Granted.  But I suspect that for the majority of people the following is
> true:  I know what's best for me to a greater extent than those around me
> who claim to.  Of course, this is just conjecture.
>
>					Mike Sykora

Exactly.  It is not much to argue from.  To return to your original question:

> How can a relatively small number of people (i.e., the gov't.) know
> what's best for millions?  Moreover, how can anyone know what's best
> for anyone else?

The answer is that people apprehend other people's self-interest with the 
same imperfect faculties with which they understand their own.  There are 
simply differences of degree.

The logical next question to be discussed is, "How can I trust someone
else to *act* in my best interest?".

					Baba ROM DOS