Posted by
The Proud Liberal on Thursday, November 08, 2007 7:34:53 AM
Modern economics focuses on "knowledge" as the engine which has driven the advance of worldwide civilization since the dawn of human history. And knowledge is a collaborative and cumulative thing.It can be hoarded for a time by a few people but will ultimately escape to be shared by all mankind.
Various economic systems such as colonialism and the free market arose to enable a select few people to enrich themselves through their exploitation of the cumulative knowledge of an age. But the masses have not been fooled. We have known that the few have enriched themselves by the knowledge that is the progeny and heritage of all mankind. This is what history is all about, the ever greater sharing of the fruits of knowledge for the benefit of every individual, not just the few.
Underneath all the rhetoric about Iraq and Iran, gays and lesbians, immigrants, taxes, universal health care, it is all about this: that everyone has a right to share in the wealth that is produced by the collaborative and collective sum of man's knowledge.