Working societies need “moral universals” to civilize them.

I don’t often do quick-link-to-some-other-post posts, but here I’m making an exception.

Umair Haque has an article up at Medium called “The End of the American Experiment: It’s Over. So What Can the World Learn?” The money shot:

Working societies — if they are to endure, grow, and cohere, if they are to prosper, hang together, and really mature — need moral universals. Moral universals are simply things that people believe everyone should have.

In the UK, those things — those moral universals — are healthcare and media and welfare. In Germany, they are healthcare and media and welfare and higher education. And so on.

Moral universals anchor a society in a genuinely shared prosperity. Not just because they “spread the wealth”, though they do: because, more deeply, moral universals civilize people. They are what let people grow to become sane, humane, intelligent human beings.

It’s relatively brief, crisply stated, and I can’t find a damned thing about it to argue with.

If you can, let me know and we’ll argue. Maybe over a beer.