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Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!cca!ima!inmet!nrh
From: nrh@inmet.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: A Question for Libertarians - (nf)
Message-ID: <1787@inmet.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 6-Nov-84 01:30:51 EST
Article-I.D.: inmet.1787
Posted: Tue Nov  6 01:30:51 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 8-Nov-84 02:45:38 EST
Lines: 38

#R:hao:-122000:inmet:7800152:000:1655
inmet!nrh    Nov  3 15:12:00 1984

>***** inmet:net.politics / mit-eddie!lkk /  9:41 am  Nov  1, 1984
>Yes you are idealists.  You have this conflict within you.
>Be good.
>Have what you have.
>
>SO you invent this philosophy which says YOU ARE BEING GOOD
>by being selfish.

This is sort of analogous to the ad hominem argument, where someone
attempts to make an argument look invalid by criticizing the people
behind it.  The tactic is regarded as sleazy because a) it depends
on an attack on people, and b) it does nothing whatever to undermine
the logical basis of a position.

In other words, Larry, it doesn't matter whether libertarianism
is the result of curdled psychoses of the pampered wealthy who 
are trying to deal with their own wealth in the midst of
poverty, whether it is only held by lectoids from space in the
movie Buckaroo Banzai, whether it was formed by a particularly
elegant random sentence generator, or whether it was foisted 
on people due to a massive misprint of a socialist text.

This doesn't matter because neither the origin, nor the personalities,
nor the motives of the believers of a philosophy can more than imply its
merits.  The true merits are measured (for philosophical systems such as
libertarianism) by how well they work, and how well they fit to reality.

Now, if you feel that libertarianism doesn't have merit because
you don't think it is correct, fine.  Tell us why.  Show us
where (when put in practice) it has failed.  Tell us of weaknesses
in its theoretical underpinnings.

Arguing about how valid it is has nothing to do with arguing where
it came from, or why people believe it (unless you believe them
misguided as to its merits).