A Culture of Theft Cannot Long Survive

We take basic morality and tolerance for granted in the United States.

That’s why we take down a dicrator in Iraq and assume the people can immediately transition into a free and prosperous nation. When things go as they’ve gone we’re amazed.
Here’s another example - you go into Wal Mart to buy a vitamin or over the counter medication and it actually works. It’s not a sugar pill or other fake pill designed to steal your money as in some parts of the world. Amazing! But we take it for granted.

We drive into work every day or into town and aren’t stopped by bands of “technicals” with assault rifles (or any rifles for that matter) to demand an ad hoc “toll” to fund their political and pillaging aspirations.

And when you’re buying a property or a home, you are virtually certain the property is actually for sale before you hand over the money (or at least the bank mortgaging the property is!)

But I was reading a blog from a man who just came back from Lagos, Nigeria. He related his suprise at seeing a large sign on the outer walls of the school where he was teaching for a month. The sign read “This Property Is Not For Sale”.

It turns out in Nigeria - the home of the “Nigerian Mail Scam” of course - people posing as real estate agents will “sell” properties that aren’t really for sale in order to steal the money from the buyers. Sometimes this happens multiple times with the same property!

Despite our nations many problems there are still a few “metavirtues” hanging on and we should be more grateful for them and seek to cultivate them if we want a culture that lets us do business and experience some freedom from constant pillaging on all sides.

A culture of theft cannot long survive as a civilization. It may hang around as a hell hole seemingly forever though.