criticism of Keynes quotation/criteria for change

[A.J. Peticolas]

>  "Burke ever held, and held rightly, that it can seldom be right to
> sacrifice a present benefit for a doubtful advantage in the future.
> It is not wise to look too far ahead; our powers of prediction are
> slight, our command over results infinitesimal. It is therefore the
> happiness of our own contemporaries that is our main concern; we
> should be very chary of sacrificing large numbers of people for the
> sake of a contingent end, however advantageous that may appear. We
> can never know enough to make the chance worth taking. There is this
> further consideration that is often in need of emphasis: it is not
> sufficient that the state of affairs which we seek to promote should
> be better than the state of affairs which preceded it; it must be
> sufficiently better to make up for the evils of the transition."
>
> - --John Maynard Keynes
>
> The very logic that keeps too many people in poverty and lots of others
> locked up for sticking
> chemicals in their bodies that authoritarians don't approve
> of...................

	Loved the Keynes quote, and the criticism is nonsense.

        Changing drug laws clearly meets the Keynes test if one

        looks at pros and cons.

              Another test I like is the "happiness is a better

        set of problems" test.  There can be real problems with

        any change; are the new problems better than the set

        of problems we've got now?

				Regards,

				 Anne Peticolas

                                 Austin, Texas