Revolution Justification

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
 
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
 
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
 
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

creation–evolution controversy

Even before the publication of The Origin of Species, the idea that life had evolved was a source of debate and evolution is still a contentious concept. Debate has generally centered on the philosophical, social and religious implications of evolution, not on the science itself; the proposition that biological evolution occurs through the mechanism of natural selection is standard in the scientific literature.

As Darwin recognized early on, the most controversial aspect of evolutionary thought is its implications to humans. Specifically, some people believe that the origin of humans involved supernatural intervention, rather than natural processes. Although many religions and denominations have reconciled their beliefs with evolution through theistic evolution, several denominations contain creationists who object to evolution, as it contradicts their literal interpretation of origin beliefs. In some countries – notably the United States – these tensions between scientific and religious teachings have fueled the ongoing creation–evolution controversy, a religious conflict focusing on politics and public education. While other scientific fields such as cosmology and earth science also conflict with literal interpretations of many religious texts, evolutionary biology has strong oppositions from believers of religion.

Evolution has been used to support philosophical positions that promote discrimination and racism. For example, the eugenic ideas of Francis Galton were developed to argue that the human gene pool should be improved by selective breeding policies, including incentives for those considered "good stock" to reproduce, and the compulsory sterilization, prenatal testing, birth control, and even killing, of those considered bad stock. Another example of an extension of evolutionary theory that is now widely regarded as unwarranted is "Social Darwinism," a term given to the 19th century Whig Malthusian theory developed by Herbert Spencer into ideas about "survival of the fittest" in commerce and human societies as a whole, and by others into claims that social inequality, racism, and imperialism were justified. However, contemporary scientists and philosophers consider these ideas to have been neither mandated by evolutionary theory nor supported by data.

一个人永远不要去羡慕他人

在今天我们讨论企业文化现代管理，有一个很时髦的词叫做核心竞争力。其实我们每一个人问问自己的人生，我的核心竞争力是什么。所谓核心竞争力是不可仿效的，也就是说是唯一性的。在今天这个时代没有什么叫做最好的，只有什么叫做唯一的。一个葫芦如果长得小可以当瓢用它有用；一棵树长得小它可以去做桌子椅子它有用；但是一个葫芦长到最大不必把它破开当游泳圈，它还是有用；一棵树长到最大可以仅仅为人遮风避雨，它也是有用。

Law was not about truth

One of the first things you learned in law school was that the law was not about truth. It was about dispute resolution. In the course of resolving a dispute, the truth might or might not emerge. often it did not. Prosecutors might know a criminal was guilty, and still unable to convict him. It happened all the time.

什么最重要?

有一个国王每天都在思考三个最最终极的哲学问题：在这个世界上，什么人最重要？什么事最重要？什么时间做事最重要？就这三个问题，举朝大臣，没人能够回答得出来。他很苦闷。

后来有一天，出去微服私访，走到一个很偏远的地方，投宿到一个陌生的老汉家。半夜里，他被一阵喧闹声惊醒，发现一个浑身是血的人闯进老汉家。那个人说，后面有人追我。老汉说，那你就在我这儿避一避吧。就把他藏起来了。国王吓得不敢睡，一会儿看见追兵来了。追兵问老汉，有没有看到一个人跑过来？老头说，不知道，我家里没有别人。后来追兵走了，那个被追捕的人说了一些感激的话也走了。

老汉关上门继续睡觉。第二天国王问老汉说，你为什么敢收留那个人？你就不怕惹上杀身之祸？而且你就那么放他走了，你怎么不问他是谁呢？

老汉淡淡地跟他说，在这个世界上，最重要的人就是眼下需要你帮助的人，最重要的事就是马上去做，最重要的时间就是当下，一点不能拖延。那个国王恍然大悟，他那三个久思不解的哲学问题，一下都解决了。

Adam Smith Expenses of the Sovereign

"Under Smith's model, government involvement in any area would have a negative impact on economic growth.

This is because economic growth is determined by the needs of a free market and the entrepreneurial nature of private persons. If there is a shortage of a product its price will rise, and so stimulate producers to produce more, while at the same time attracting new persons into that line of production.  

If there is an excess supply of a product (more of the product than people are willing to buy), prices will fall and producers will focus their energy and money in other areas where there is a shortage or where there is a need which no one has yet satisfied (thereby creating a new market)."

The invisible hand

There are two important features of Adam Smith's concept of the "invisible hand". First, Smith was not advocating a social policy (that people should act in their own self interest), but rather was describing an observed economic reality (that people do act in their own interest).

 

Second, Smith was not claiming that all self-interest has beneficial effects on the community. He did not argue that self-interest is always good; he merely argued against the view that self-interest is necessarily bad.

 

The "invisible hand" refers to the ability of the market to correct for seemingly disastrous situations with no intervention on the part of government or other organizations.

 

If a product shortage were to occur, that product's price in the market would rise, creating incentive for its production and a reduction in its consumption, eventually curing the shortage. The increased competition among manufacturers and increased supply would also lower the price of the product to its production cost plus a small profit, the "natural price."

 

Human motives are ultimately out of self interest, the net effect in the free market would tend to benefit society as a whole.

 

Posed by free and open markets among nations. If markets were free and open, the question arose how would a nation keep its capitalists from moving their capital out of the nation and into other countries where labor could be bought for cheaper. The answer, Adam Smith says, is that they will act with a view toward their own particular nationalistic interests which happen to correspond with the "public interest" at home.

 

In this way, by "preferring the support of domestic to that of foreign industry," the capitalist will in a sense be "led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention."