Thanks Don for your thoughtful response.

I couldn’t quite grok your “charity” article. Maybe more time is needed.

In terms of the political spectrum, I’ve been all over. I’ve put up a Medium article about it: https://medium.com/@davevolek/i-used-to-be-a-libertarian-62940f9b3e28

A long time ago, I read the first half of Smith’s book. For some reason, the second half was elusive to me (at that time) and many others. But I have encountered other thinkers like you who have read the whole book— and Smith was never a rampant capitalist.

Social Darwinism is a reasonably good explanation of conservatives. They seem to feel that because they are enjoying the fruits of their labor, everyone else has had the exact same opportunity in life. Conservatives look at the one in 1,000 who arises from the ghetto and wonder why the rest of the ghetto dwellers don’t/can’t/won’t. It is a very immature understanding of the world. It cannot be logically defended. I think they are not participating on Medium because their thinking will be exposed. They prefer to go after less articulate leftees.

I’ve recently been reading the effects of tribalism on the nature of humanity. We tend to band together to validate our existence — and the expense of others not in our group. Getting away from tribalism is something we need to learn.