alloallo3

I applaud the Alibi for publishing an article with views diametrically opposed to those of many of the paper's readers. You folks will surely endure endless abuse for questioning the accepted -- in fact, the rigorously enforced -- beliefs of the left.

Like a great many conservatives, I too was once a liberal. But then I began to realize that markets, for all their potential (and real) ventures into viciousness, provide the only way up for the world's poor.

You can give people a home, a car, and put food on the table. But isn't it much better to give them a job? The government only takes money from the economy. The private sector creates the wealth.

Yeah, some people are greedy. The past year should prove that beyond a shadow of a doubt. But take a look around. The wealth and living standards of nations are largely determined by the freedom of the markets within.

Paul, I'm sure you'll receive a lot of grief for this article, too. But there may be one or two readers who have been mulling over some of these ideas, and who will perhaps change their way of thinking due to this article. For the sake of the world's poor, we can only hope so.

As you know, many liberals are only liberal because it's a nice shortcut - an easy way to convince themselves they are enlightened, compassionate and (most importantly) superior to those benighted conservatives. It's only when they stop worrying about whether others think they're cool and start looking at what actually works that they can really take a logical, and compassionate, look at these issues.

Maybe you've given them a nudge in the right direction.