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From: fagin@ucbvax.ARPA (Barry Steven Fagin)
Newsgroups: net.politics.theory
Subject: Listen here, Paul V. Torek!!!
Message-ID: <10204@ucbvax.ARPA>
Date: Mon, 26-Aug-85 03:01:30 EDT
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.10204
Posted: Mon Aug 26 03:01:30 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 27-Aug-85 01:24:03 EDT
References: <9563@ucbvax.ARPA> <1106@umcp-cs.UUCP> <10166@ucbvax.ARPA> <245@pedsgd.UUCP> <10203@ucbvax.ARPA>
Reply-To: fagin@ucbvax.UUCP (Barry Steven Fagin)
Organization: University of California at Berkeley
Lines: 38

(Insert (:-) wherever necessary)

Okay, Mr. Torek: enough's enough.  I've been watching you post your
centrist drivel for the past few months, and I've had it.  As a
self-proclaimed iconoclast, you have taken pleasure in punching
holes in libertarian arguments wherever you can find them (although
to your credit you admit it when you cannot).  Well I've
got news for you: there is *no* philosophical doctrine that is
without flaw.  If there were, life wouldn't be interesting and
philosophical inquiry would be pointless.  Believe it or not,
even a committed libertarian like myself can have reservations about
the philosophy.  However, I choose to live in the real world with
all its flaws, and I recognize the terms "better" and "worse".
Libertarianism seems to me infinitely better than any of the
alternatives, so I support it.

However, as a committed wimp, (excuse me, centrist), you get to 
survey the intellectual frontier, picking and choosing the ideas you
like.  So let me put this to you: which of the following doctrines,
in your opinion, should we draw the most of our ideas from if we're
going to solve as many problems of the world as possible?

	1) conservativism 
	2) liberalism
	3) libertarianism
	4) populism
	5) other (*NOT* centrism, please.  Centrism has no ideas of
		 its own)

	I'm looking for a real opinion here: no wimping out by saying
that they all contribute equally.

--Barry

If you straddle the fence all your life, certain parts of your anatomy
may cease to function.
-- 
Barry Fagin @ University of California, Berkeley