Perhaps now is the time to really focus on those changes needed to improve education not only in the U.S. but world-wide.

Those countries with outstanding educational results seem to focus their efforts on selecting and training outstanding teachers rather than on the physical structure, curriculum, and administration of the educational program.

How do you think Education can be improved? Is now the time to drastically change government control of and input into schools?

The U.S. is one of the world’s oldest continuing democracies in the sense that it has a basically democratically elected representative government. Its spectacular successes have made it the model for the world but there are other historic instances where democracy has failed to protect the rights of those governed and has failed.

The most spectacular such failure was in Germany in the early 1930′s. Adolph Hitler was elected Chancellor of Germany in a democratic election where the NSDAP (NAZI) party swept into power. It was solidly supported by the vast majority of German people even as it removed basic rights from segments of the population – all minorities and political dissidents – and led the world into the worst war mankind has ever seen.

What constraints, if any, should be placed on Democratic Governments?

Soc doesn’t very often comment on current events, but this is important.

As I understand it, Egypt has a very complex politico-religious culture. The very conservative rural areas have always supported the Moslem Brotherhood – which is an old dissident organization – and certainly not democratic in its basic structure. When it got into power it began to persecuite other groups and there was a general uprising – mostly in the cities. The army – which since the time of Nasser has seen itself as the true saviour of egyptian culture – sided with the anti-MB protestors – with the obvious idea of preserving its own power – and has acted to crush the MB protests – a return to the way Egypt has been ruled ever since the British were thrown out. 
We have the rather difficult decision to either supporting the anti-democartic Army crackdown or supporting the MB – a group that hates us and generally favors anti-american and anti-israeli terrorism. Obama’s comments seem to me to be pretty much on target.

What’s your opinion?

Here’s something I haven’t seen discussed for a while:

Does Evil Exist?

Evil is defined as : Immoral, wicked, harmful, disastrous, bad, ill-reputed, etc., etc. Or the cause of the above.

You will notice that these pejorative terms are all pretty much culture-linked, that is what is considered evil seems to depend on the culture so that while each society has its list of evils, they don’t necessarily agree – and in fact may be at odds with each other.

 Islamism today is a good example. We consider the terrorist insurgents and religious terrorists as evil but they do not so regard themselves – As they see it, they are freedom fighters doing Allah’s will.

One aspect of evil is the idea that a person or persons willfully and deliberately violate their culture’s moral tenants – that is commit acts that they know are considered evil just to “be evil”; but even this kind of act is often for a purpose which the person feels is desirable or good : To gain admission to a group or to please God, or because the person is psychotic. (Can psychotics be evil?)

This raises the question of the existence of Absolute Evil – Is there any act or idea so evil that it is so universally condemned that no one would do it?