Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 8/23/84; site ucbcad.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!ucbvax!ucbcad!faustus From: faustus@ucbcad.UUCP Newsgroups: net.politics,net.philosophy Subject: Re: Re: Re: Comments on Libertarianism Message-ID: <2798@ucbcad.UUCP> Date: Sun, 18-Nov-84 12:01:45 EST Article-I.D.: ucbcad.2798 Posted: Sun Nov 18 12:01:45 1984 Date-Received: Tue, 20-Nov-84 07:02:14 EST References: <47@cbsck.UUCP> <2773@ucbcad.UUCP> <2597@ihldt.UUCP> <272@pyuxd.UUCP> <110@talcott.UUCP> Organization: UC Berkeley CAD Group, Berkeley, CA Lines: 26 > Considerably more seriously, you're off the mark when you say that > libertarians claim no responsibility to society. I'm a libertarian (I > think), and yet I simply don't take that stand. I do maintain, however, > that a person should be allowed to decide for himself how much he interacts > with society. If person X decides that he doesn't want anything from > society, then he should not be obliged to do anything for the society. But whether you like it or not, you own a great deal to society. (A good illustration is the Myth of the Metals in Plato's Republic.) To be a bit extreme, if it were not for society you would be hanging from trees eating bananas. Assuming that you feel an obligation to repay debts, and you think that 'society' is a coherent idea in the first place, the issue would be how you think you can best contribute to society. > Clearly this is often not the case. My parents care not at all for the > welfare of doctors who implant pacemakers. Yet they are forced to pay > several hundred dollars per year for this cause, because we have the > Medicare program. If they don't pay this money, the IRS can have them sent > to jail. It seems to be the prevalent opinion that, as a compassionate and responsible society, we cannot let people die because they are too poor to pay for medical care. You can try to change this perception by writing about how silly this is, but in the meantime, you're stuck... Wayne