rsl@ihnss.UUCP (10/04/84)
To the "Aspiring Iconoclast" I offer a challenge to demolish a few
of his own closely guarded icons, -- namely:
"peoples' welfare",
"public good(s)",
malicious, dispassionate libertarianism
status quo(?) libertarianism {I did not think anyone was this
misinformed about libertarianism!!! :-) }.
... (?)
I would also like to extend a few basic questions:
How would *you* determine "justly-owned property"?
(I agree that much property is unjustly acquired/held and
that many individuals disagree about what "just acquisition"
means; my understanding of libertarianism is that it holds
property rights to be a natural extension of individual
rights and that a valid function of gov'ts is to protect
property rights and to adjudicate disputes over ownership.
What's so bad about that?)
What limits do *you* place on the *initiation* of physical force
against individuals by governments? (You point out that
libertarians advocate "USE" of [retaliatory] force to
protect property, but is that not clearly different from
"initiating" force? Unjustly acquired property would seem
to me to imply *initiation* of force, and thus might involve
restitution by a libertarian government, if a victim could be
identified and the injustice could be proven. As for
inheritance, where is the victim? the injustice?)
What rules, based upon whose values, would you use in determining
what you think the "public good" is? ("Whatever some
awesome, elitist bureaucracy, somewhat controlled by
democratically elected so-called representatives, decides"
does *not* answer my question. To what extent would you
enslave me, by taking the values that I fairly and
peacefully produced, to further your cause at the expense
of one selcected by me? Do you not see the violation of my
rights as a human being? If not, you put me in a poition of
having to defend myself against you, and I will!!!)
"Libertarianism is *not* Anarchy; as some of it's opponents would
mislead you to believe."
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