Posted by
Tony Guinta on Thursday, July 10, 2008 6:51:42 PM
Are most people by nature good or bad? Your answer here tells a lot about you.
In order to believe in the values on which this country was founded, one must believe that people, in general, are good-natured. A free society would not be possible if most people were evil.
I will admit that there are some days where I question this myself, but then I remind myself of how bad things really would be if we had to assume that most people were bad. Our perception becomes distorted by the media since acts of malice are reported more than acts of kindness.
Whenever I think about this topic, I remember in grade school, there was always one kid in the class who was the "trouble-maker". He (sorry, yes, it was always a "he") was set-off from the rest of the class at his own desk, away from the rest of the class. Sure, many of us also got into trouble, but most of us learned the concept of action/consequence. Thus, we learned that when we didn't obey the rules, there was a consequence -- either we had to sit out at playtime, or write "I will not speak without raising my hand first" one-hundred times. Sure, the bad kid was the exception, but that's why he was just that -- an exception.
I also like to believe that the converse is true as well. Meaning, that most of us learn that rewards are returned for doing good deeds. We may do it unconsciously, but inside, we know that if we do someone a favor, they're more likely to do one for us in return.
With liberty comes responsibility. What does this mean? Sure, you can legally say anything you wish, but if you say the wrong thing to someone there will likely be a consequence. The consequence may be that you don't get a job for which you were interviewing, or it may be as simple as getting words you don't like thrown back at you.
Most people are good and that's why a free society works -- good will always triumph over evil as long as there are more good than evil. If you don't believe that people in general are good, then you're likely to believe that more government control is necessary to keep the people in line. However, if you believe in the good of humanity, you are more capable of accepting a free society.