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From: dgary@ecsvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.philosophy
Subject: Re: Re: Whither Are We Drifting? - (nf)
Message-ID: <2778@ecsvax.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 25-Jun-84 19:08:13 EDT
Article-I.D.: ecsvax.2778
Posted: Mon Jun 25 19:08:13 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 27-Jun-84 03:09:54 EDT
References: ism780.263
Lines: 41

> From: judy@ism780.UUCP Sat Jun 23 00:41:17 1984
...
> I cannot be a democrat because I do not believe in a welfare state.  I
> cannot be a republican because I do not believe in legislating morality.
> Therefore, I am a libertarian.  I consider it economically conservative
> and morally liberal.  Now, I may differ some from the "Libertarian Platform"
> but it is the closest middle of the road party around.
...
> I guess I am a republican who believes in drugs, sex among consenting
> adults, and abortion. 

If I assume that being opposed to a "welfare state" does not extend
to opposing all government aid to the needy, this sounds very much
like my philosophy.  In fact, it sounds like the philosophy of a lot
of people.  So howcome we don't have a party?  The Democrats
love compulsory unionism and are about to nominate someone whose
opposition to scientific research and other forward-looking matters
is notorious.  The Republicans talk a good talk for small government
but want the FBI in our mailboxes, tv sets, and bedrooms.

The Libertarians looked like a good alternative, until I probed
their thinking more deeply and discovered that the official party is
(in my estimation, anyway) ideologically purist to the point of
begin downright silly.  Dismantling the defense establishment and
the space program along with the income tax, antitrust laws, etc. etc.
strikes me as a bit much.  Their error, it seems to me, is their
obsession with government as The Root of All Evil.  I don't want my
freedom restricted by Big Government, but I don't want it restricted
by Big Business, popular prejudice (presumably the Civil Rights Act
would be repealed by the Libertarians) or anything else.  We need
a decent-sized government to prevent something else from moving into
the power vacuum.

So, I repeat, why don't us Radical Centrist (as Bob Vardeman and
presumably other people used to call us) have a party?  But not at
my place until I get it cleaned up...

D Gary Grady
Duke University Computation Center, Durham, NC  27706
(919) 684-4146
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