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." \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ Eudaemonia, Richard S. Latimer | [home] Bell Labs,IH 6C-308 | 27W058 Warrenville Ave. (ihnss!rsl) Naperville,IL,60566 | Wheaton,IL,60187 (312)-979-4886 | (312)-462-0888