Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness

sorry but i must argue that the modern world is founded on the priciples of greed , selfinterest , and "what is the least i can do and stay in power"life, liberty , and the pursuit of happiness are the bribes used by the "power brokers" to keep the population acquiescent to their rule .even when the the power brokers fail and are replaced , it is by a set of clones who soon return to the traditional methods .politics is the smoke screen behind which power is maintained , your rights are there only as long as it suits the design of the power brokers .Epicureanism has given a direction to philosophical debate and asperational idealisum , but i dont think it made today , it has given today some of its decoration and colour , just has religion , but none of its real substance .

i did not use the word wrong in any part , wrong and right are judgments based on personal views . i was talking about drives and methods .as to self-interest its not a question of right or wrong its a qualification of if it , in the widest use of the word , harms others .
In this context i am using it to mean put one self , and ones desires and needs above others reguardless of the effect on others .sorry but you are falling into the trap of looking at the power by the labels it wears .. all goverments control , the means they use , the stick and carrot employed to keep a stable , productive ( from the view point of the power brokers ) population is a mask .
...all forms goverments end up serving power not the people , not only for the reason that those with power try to hold on to it , but because the people can be lulled into being lead , and handing power over to others .dont forget a live slave/citizen is more productive than a dead one
, and one who thinks they see a desire being forefilled is more likely to be coorperative .........it May be part of the human condition that we are to some degree still herd /pack animals ...Edited by ikabod, : No reason given.Edited by ikabod, : No reason given.

apologize for not making my point clearly ..
Yes there is a vast difference in the goverments of Britain compared to Belarus, and in Switzerland compared to Saudi Arabia?But those goverments are the tool / the face / outer apperance of the power that controls , the nature of the goverments is made to be acceptable to the population so that control is kept , Britian has had a number of revolutions removing one form of goverment and replacing it with another stlye , but the control remains .. the current british goverment is in fact often accused of making policy totally at odds to the pulbic will .. ie the gulf . , of mass breaches of human rights , .. and when it claimed to be looking at how to make people happy was accused of vote chasing .And show me a liberal democracy that does not keep tabs on those of differiving view points , does not spy on its own citizens , does not when it needs to uses totalitarian methods , and if it was better able to keep its secrets would not go further ..am i cynical about human nature and society , i think no , i am a realist ..humans can be wounderful , and terrible .. some times in the same person .. we can pervet the noblest vision to the most evil ends , we can be totally sefless and lay down out live to save others , we can give up all our wealth and status and live to serve others, we can bring into being ideas of life , liberty and happyness .. BUT we always seem to fail ... because to often we refuse to see the bad in ourselves and others and become blinded by the good we see.we need to understand greed , self-interest , and how power works and is weilded to see the reality we build our socities on .inaction because we kept content is the bases of control in liberal democracy .... the velvet glove in place of the iron fist , which is more right , more truthfull, and honest .. does the fact it has to go through 5 courts before a death sentence is carried out make it better ... would the human rights issue in Saudi Arabia be a bigger political item if WE did not want petrol for OUR cars ??
is it better to force a man to work or give him the freedom to starve ...is there a true , correct right answer to these sorts of questions ...is that not why we seek god(s) to help us deal with such matterssorry getting off topic i thinkgo back to why life , liberty and the pursuit of happyness and what role ANY form of goverment should play in such matters .