foy@AEROSPACE.ARPA (08/20/86)
It is hard for me to understand some of the Libertarian attitudes about rights. Some seem to say that people have a right to do anything they want economically, but also have a right to be free from phyusical agression. They seem to imply that these are natural rights. I would like to understand where they think these rights come from. It seems to me that these "rights" are arbitrary sets of rules defined by arbitrary methods, by arbitrarily selected groups of people. To illustrate my concern with a little story: Suppose; I am not very well endowed with mental equipment. I have inherited a small farm on which I grow potatoes and shoot a few rabbits for my sustenence. I am good at growing potatoes and shooting rabbits because my father was patient with me and trained me well. I make a few $ by selling some of my potatoes to the city folks. One day an intelligent, well educated Libertarian (perhaps not as ethical as most Libertarians) comes along and tells mae that he will sell me a rototiller which will make it easy for me to grow lots more potatoes. He tells me that I only have to give him a few dollars every month for this rototiller. That should be easy to do because I will be able to grow and sell so many more potatoes. It sure sounds like a good deal. He asks me to sign a piece oaf paper which he says is an agreement that I will pay him the amount he says I need to pay for the rototiller. It has lots of big words that I don't understand like deeds and mortgage and interest and so on. I don't understand what those words mean. He is a nice guy and I sure want to grow more potatoes so maybe sometime I can buy one of those new fangled picture boxes so I sign the paper and I get my roto tiller and I start growing more potatoes and I make a few more $; not as much as my fried from the city told me I would. Sometimes I can't make the monthly payment like I was supposed. I knew that was OK because my friend had sais it would be when he gave me the rototiller. One day a man in a Uniform comes and shows me the piece of paper I signed and some other papers and tells me I have to move off my farm tomorrow. I get angry. We have an argument. The next day when he comes I tell him to leave my land. He says I have to leave. I shoot him like I would a rabbit. End of Story. Why do the Libertarians think that one of these individuals has a natural right to do what he did and that the other individual does not? Richard Foy, Redondo Beach, CA The opinions I have expressed are the result of many years in the school of hard knocks. Thus they are my own. -------
mcb%lll-tis-b.ARPA@LLL-TIS-GW.ARPA (08/25/86)
foy@aerospace.arpa writes: > > It is hard for me to understand some of the Libertarian attitudes > about rights. Some seem to say that people have a right to do > anything they want economically, but also have a right to be free > from phyusical agression. They seem to imply that these are natural > rights. > > To illustrate my concern with a little story: Suppose; > > [A "libertarian" con man defrauds an illiterate farmer into deeding > away his farm, telling him he is merely signing an installment sale > for farm equipment...] > > Why do the Libertarians think that one of these individuals has a > natural right to do what he did and that the other individual does > not? Nowhere does libertarianism condone fraud. The essence of fraud is misrepresentation, which occurred in the scenario Mr. Foy posted. The aggrieved farmer should have the right to collect damages and have his property returned to him. What we DON'T need is a barrage of regulations that restrict, tax, encumber, and interfere with the freedom to engage in real estate (or rototiller!) transactions. The farmer's private right to sue is a sufficient remedy. The key distinction is between relief from actual fraud versus relief from having made a bad economic decision. The first is quite legitimate under both libertarian and statist theory; the second seems quite prevalent in the US today, but has no place in a libertarian system. Michael C. Berch ARPA: mcb@lll-tis-b.ARPA UUCP: {ihnp4,dual,sun}!lll-lcc!styx!mcb -------