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From: judy@ism780.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.philosophy
Subject: Re: Re: whither...  libertarianism & tec - (nf)
Message-ID: <331@ism780.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 27-Jul-84 00:18:08 EDT
Article-I.D.: ism780.331
Posted: Fri Jul 27 00:18:08 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 27-Jul-84 04:03:18 EDT
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#R:pyuxn:-82800:ism780:20200013:000:2011
ism780!judy    Jul 18 16:07:00 1984

>> I am willing to take full responsibility for my life and my actions.
>> Therefore, I do not want a government taking that responsibility for me
>> and telling me what is good for me and what is bad for me.  I do NOT
>> have the right to abuse any other person.  I DO have a moral obligation
>> to the others that live in this world with me.

>You and other libertarians say "we are responsible; we don't need you to
>govern us".  The question is, even if everyone who says that is telling
>the truth (which I don't believe for a minute), how do we separate you
>from all other folk who are not responsible and do not feel a moral
>obligation toward others?  It is very self-centered and immature to see
>these laws as personal interferences with your freedom.  The laws are
>intended to keep people from doing harm.  If *everyone* were responsible
>then there would be no need for laws.

Jim, the statement "I do NOT have the right to abuse any other person" makes
for a reasonable set of laws against murder, assault, etc.  These keep people
from doing harm.  The "morality laws" (like drug abuse laws, sex laws, etc.)
are intended to keep me from doing harm to myself.  That is where I want to
claim responsibility for myself.  Now if some irresponsible person chooses to
abuse himself with drugs and die from it, that's his responsibility.

Therefore, I would be against a law forbidding alcoholic consumption while
being for one which forbade driving while under the influence.  If I am
straying from the Libertarian dogma, then I am, perhaps, not a die hard
Libertarian.

	*****   *****   *****   *****   *****   *****   *****   *****

Property laws enable people to keep what they have earned.  Most of them
are of the "you are not allowed to steal from me" genre.  I was using these
laws as a given in my argument about abolishing inheritance being government
interference.  If we are indeed restructuring society, then those laws would
not be given.  But I imagine they would be recreated damn fast!