Shame on all those folks who won't get with the greed is good Republican ideal.

Those shameless environmentalists interested in protecting the environment for future generations instead of keeping as much money for themselves as possible to spend on big gas guzling displays of wealth.

Shame on those space activists for wanting to spend government money on opening up the space frontier for business and colonization instead of just giving business tax breaks which they will obviously spend on doing the same thing more economically and efficiently.

Shame on those human rights activists more concerned about some ignorant slob in a third world country than jobs producing corporate executives forced to spend jail time in miminimum security prisons. After all steeling millions didn't really hurt anyone. It's a travesty of justice!

Activists are generally people who want to make the world a better place. Some are misguided but their intentions are good. That doesn't mean all are actually a force for good (ie take BD at face value), but there is no good reason to heap scorn on the term. Our founding fathers were activists as were many drivers of societel changes we consider beneficial.

I strongly believe that collective self interest tends to increase the collective good and that both democracy and capitalism work well for the most part because of this. However, I also firmly believe that self interest can get out of control and in combination with self delusions such as ignoring problems because they are inconvenient can lead to major problems.

Regards,
Mark