Posted by Martin Read on June 25, 1999 at 07:17:50:
In Reply to: Re: Life, Peace and Freedom posted by Nick Edwards on June 24, 1999 at 12:18:04:
: re: I am a liberal, I consider the duties of the individual to his fellow man and society in general to be paramount.
: are u quoting julian bohorst?
: sounds like a peefer to me
Not knowingly.
Maggie Thatcher once said "There is no such thing as society, just people." But then again she gave tennants of local government owned housing the "Freedom" to buy the house they rented (at subsidised rates). All fine and well, but now with the alienation of a great proportion of Britain's affordable rented-housing stock we have ended up with record levels of homeless young people on the streets.
Freedom for the individual can be a dangerous thing if the needs of society as a whole are ignored. A balance must be struck between freedom of action and responsibility to others - this I would consider to be the hallmark of liberal values.
I have never really noted any particular political bias in Vance's writing - though I always feel that there is an "Old World" atmosphere to his work which I for one would not expect from a native of California.