Self Determination is achieved by having the ability to use and gather the resources listed below to move freely in society and gain social mobility. Without these and use of them, the ability to rise to one’s full potential unencumbered is compromised. Society generally is the loser as is the individual denied the benefits. Adam Smith explicitly and constantly distinguished the concepts, selfishness and self-interest, condemning the first and condoning the second. It is believe that our frequent failure to follow him in making this distinction, as it relates to what he called “sympathy,” is the important source of our current economic difficulties. No society can dismiss it without eventually suffering destructive consequences like the ones we are now experiencing.

Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759)

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