Thoughts on his “most evil idea.”
I don’t know, I think there’s stiff competition for that. Also, my understanding is that a lot of the stuff he writes is prompted by his wife.
But yes, envy of the long-lived is just as sinful as envy of the wealthy.
“And the trees are all kept equal, by hatched, ax, and saw.”
Logan’s Run also obviously comes to mind.
Or Harrison Bergeron.
I’m guessing Krugman’s “most evil” idea is liberty.
We have never had a more libertarian President and while I have a disdain for politicians, Republicans are not a danger to a civil society. Politicians in general aren’t either. What is it about libertarians that leads them to believe in a utopia that will never be but also one that never was? A civil society is one full of disagreement because as individuals, we all have our own opinions.
There wasn’t a time when we all agreed with each other or were super nice in our disagreements, just as there wasn’t a time when the media could be trusted or wasn’t extremely biased.
“A civil society is one full of disagreement because as individuals, we all have our own opinions.”
And that can only work when government doesn’t step in and criminalize one side of the disagreement. Which it has been doing an an ever-increasing rate for a hundred years or so since ‘Progressives’ gained power.
A civil society requires minimal government and freedom of association, or it will become the kind of politicized war of all against all that we live in today. Given the ability to simply move to where people like you live, most problems go away on their own. Given the ability of people who are completely unlike you to move into your town and force you to live the way they want you to live, civil war becomes inevitable.
‘Progressives’ believe that, if only everyone could be forced to live the ‘correct’ way, the world would be a glorious utopia. And they will never stop trying to force people to live that way.