Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site mit-eddie.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxj!ihnp4!mit-eddie!lkk From: lkk@mit-eddie.UUCP (Larry Kolodney) Newsgroups: net.politics Subject: Re: A Question for Libertarians Message-ID: <2984@mit-eddie.UUCP> Date: Thu, 25-Oct-84 12:11:14 EDT Article-I.D.: mit-eddi.2984 Posted: Thu Oct 25 12:11:14 1984 Date-Received: Fri, 26-Oct-84 09:15:07 EDT References: <1754@inmet.UUCP> Organization: MIT, Cambridge, MA Lines: 32 From: nrh@inmet.UUCP: "To sum up: we ALL benefit from a free [libertarian] society, since almost all of us MUST trade the fruits of our labors (or the labors themselves) for food and necessities. Restrictions on freedom in order to prevent starvation provide a ready avenue for institutionalizing what could otherwise be transient dependencies." ----- I've never met a starving libertarian. In fact all the libertarians I've met have been well educated (usually thru public education), well fed (as a result of said education), and in general "have it made". Having found themselves in such a situation, and seeing the dire poverty surrounding them, (in the US and rest of world), they invented a philosophy which justifies their priveleged status by idealizing relationships between people as mutually informed rational transactions. They tend to be very theoretical in their politics, using unrealistic analogies to make questionable points. But, when you come right down to it, libertarianism is simply a matter of greed. "I've got mine, and just try to take it away from me." Of course they will take it away from you. Either thru taxes, as in the present case, or expropriation, after the inevitable revolution which will take place if the mediating influence of social programs dissapears. Take your pick libertarians, but first wake up and smell the coffee. -- larry kolodney (The Devil's Advocate) UUCP: ...{ihnp4, decvax!genrad}!mit-eddie!lkk ARPA: lkk@mit-mc