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From: mmt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor)
Newsgroups: net.politics.theory
Subject: Re: Re: Newsflash! [JoSH on Socialists]
Message-ID: <1674@dciem.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 10-Sep-85 17:29:17 EDT
Article-I.D.: dciem.1674
Posted: Tue Sep 10 17:29:17 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 10-Sep-85 21:14:23 EDT
References: <389@drutx.UUCP>
Reply-To: mmt@dciem.UUCP (PUT YOUR NAME HERE)
Organization: D.C.I.E.M., Toronto, Canada
Lines: 29
Summary: 


>"political reality"  Isn't that an oxymoron? :-)  Besides, government is not
>a source of wealth.  Unlike uncles, government cannot generate wealth; it can
>give only what it takes from people who produce.

That is false.  Wealth is created by the re-organization of things
(the reduction of entropy, if you like).  Government most definitely
can aid in such organization.  Whether it is the most efficient way
of doing so is a different story, but to regard government as only
a transfer medium for existing wealth is like seeing a painting as
a transfer medium for oil and pigment.

>>So if systemic thinking and a propensity for social surgery are inadmissible
>>then socialists and libertarians are equally guilty of thought-crime.
>
>That is almost like saying that since they both use a knife to cut open people,
>there is no difference between Jack the Ripper and a heart surgeon.

A good analogy.  Jack the Ripper was certainly individualistic
in his approach to surgery, in the fine libertarian tradition.
Surgeons cut open people under tightly controlled norms and regulations,
in the socialist tradition.
>
>David Olson
-- 

Martin Taylor
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