Addressing the infrastructural gap first to fertilize success of free markets & democracy is logically sound. Yet the thrust of this comment moves outside that debate.

What stood out in your post was the closing call to action to serve. Despite being a fantastically imperfect citizen myself (…following remarks are not meant to be soapbox-esque), it is clear citizen action is what will propel us toward greater humanity i.e. Darfur’s peace or more locally, the 70 year old homeless man down my block having sustainable food and shelter. I give him food regularly but I’m not sure how to get him where he needs to go….ah, another conversation for another time.

I’m not sure how to absolve this world of poverty, violence, or oppression but it does seem that although it carries intellectual merit, the debates in the end only go so far. It’s actionable steps beyond the talk that matter. So again your simple call to action – at whatever level from our global citizenry – remains the most relevant step to fix things. And in observing Lcomm’s work this year, it’s encouraging to see how such practice has manifested in your business.

Knowing the road to social justice is long, let’s turn to this guy:

“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become so.” M. Gandhi

As to your defense, the empirical evidence proves your sudden unleashing of not perfect free market and democracy breeds hate and genocide. Congratulations.

If you read the book you would also realize that Western free markets and democracy evolved over centuries not days. The resulting impact on culture and society and their ability to handle these freedoms resulted in great humanitarian progress. Conversely, trying to catapult cultures beyond the evolutionary democratic, free market process has created great failures.

My suggestion simply acknowledges that the infrastructure, the education needs to be in place for democratic free markets to work. That’s all. Without infrastructure, without cornerstones, how can we expect what we already know to be great to work for others who have not had the benefit of going through centuries of trial and error?

It is not the influence of the free market and democracy that causes one human (or a group of like-minded humans) to CHOOSE to violate the human rights of another. It is the need of the violators to deny others the inherent right to choose how they will survive in this world. While not perfect, the free market and democracy offer people the opportunity to live a life of their choosing–for better or worst. For some folks (like the majority you mention), this is threatening because others may acquire more of the things they value. As a result, these folks (not the free market or democracry) seek to harm or kill the achievers.

If we follow your logic, we must take away the medicine that is curing patient-A because patient-B has decided that the health of the patient-A is to hard to swallow.

It is strange: the free market and democracry seems to be working for you and Ms. Chua, but you want to deny others the opportunities you have. Now who’s the human rights violator?