My objectivist rant

[Person Man]

Actually, I am going over civil republicanism and the realist refutation of it in law school right now. The public good was initially supposed to be a way that those who were virturous would work towards everyone's benefit and not for private and partial interest. The goal was to make the government an insturment to better and police society. However, over time, many tried to find the public, or common good.

They were robber barons in the 1875-1930 period who argued that economic expansion using their methods bettered society and that laws that were meant to burden them, and therefore everyone else were private and partial interests and not in the common good.

Then there were in the proto-religious right in the similar period who believed that their ideas of restricting people's behavior would make people more alturistic and productive and liberal laws on abortion, most forms of sexual behavior, prostitution, soft drug use, birth control, alcohol and certian casual public social events were private and partial interests that would corrupt society.

You can say that the religious right of today and especially the military industril complex make similiar arguments today. "America; love it or leave it" or "I am doing what is best for my country and the world, unlike you who simply is too cowardly to fight and you should accept what I say because I have proven myself better than you have" or "people like you only care about having fun and that this fun must be stopped because it causes people not to care for one another" or that "businesses provide jobs for the community and deserve our respect no matter what" or that "government is just a way for lazy, stupid and weak people to make a living" simply reek of these arguments.

Therefore, I have come to a relatively conservative or classically liberal idea on the public good. It can be anything to anyone and therefore could simply be another get-rich-quick way for a group of like-minded people to get rich off of the backs of the public.

Then again, there are certain things we can order, as voters, to be done to make life easier or to ensure access to the benefits that living in technologically advanced, infrastructure rich cities and towns have to offer.

Therefore, it all boils down to who do you trust to protect the public interest and then again, another question stems from the point that you are part of the public.