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From: janw@inmet.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.politics.theory
Subject: Re: How Opposite are Reason and Force?
Message-ID: <28200659@inmet.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 10-Feb-86 09:27:00 EST
Article-I.D.: inmet.28200659
Posted: Mon Feb 10 09:27:00 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 14-Feb-86 21:12:13 EST
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Nf-From: inmet!janw    Feb 10 09:27:00 1986


[kort@hounx --Barry Kort]
>Nothwithstanding the rationalist view that the use of force is (generally)
>an irrational behavior, we are nevertheless left with the reality that some
>alloplastic agents in our society do habitually embrace force as a means
>of attaining their goals.  

IRS and INS are prominent among these agents.

>The dilemma of the rationalist is how to 
>protect his interests without returning violence for violence.

In the cases above, one might vote or lobby ...

>This dilemma vexed even Einstein, an avowed  pacifist  who  later
>urged  (and  then  regretted)  the  use  of atomic weapons.

*Later* that, and before, simultaneously with pacifism,  the  So-
viet revolution; and later, simultaneously with pacifism, Zionism
and defense of Israel. He  was  awfully  nice  but  inconsistent,
through and through. His political views carry as little authori-
ty as Newton's biblical exegesis.

But you've switched to alloplastic agents *outside* our
society (external enemies). That problem is hard, indeed.

>It is easier to learn war than to learn peace. 

Read: to "learn" *them* peace. Democratic societies *are*  peace-
ful,  it is  a  proven  fact. While the planet is always covered
with a rash of wars, there has never been  a  war  between  two
democratic countries. They don't even arm against each other.

The problem of war is solved, in principle: make all nations
as free as (e.g.) Costa Rica. In practice, there are obstacles.

				Jan Wasilewsky