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Looking Forward To The Holy Father's Thoughts On Ecology

Even if they swing more "Left" than I might be comfortable with. The American Right's problem is that it has absolutized individual self-determination; the Left's problem--as always--is that this self-determination doesn't even exist. They pretend to be libertines, in order to secure the votes of the economically illiterate.

Markets are a great way to manage the scarcity of finite goods, but you cannot quantify clean air and water. A "free market" could be defined as a voluntary, mutually beneficial exchange of goods or services. We might end up saying that a particular regulation or a scheme of them is ultimately counterproductive to achieve a certain end, but there is a clear sanction in the abstract for regulation by governments for the common good.

We need to be pre-emptively aware that the developing world still lacks the most basic and obvious environmental regulations, that we in the US take for granted, so the Holy Father may sound like a socialist at times (even though he isn't, at all). Let's keep our ears ready for a whole bunch of stuff reaffirming the fundamental dignity of the human person. The Right-flavored version of consequentialism will chafe against these sorts of things, saying, "But look at all these great outcomes!" which means precisely squadoosh, if some structure is fundamentally opposed to human dignity and solidarity.

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