If you really believe that taxation by a representative (and constitutional) government is equivalent to putting a gun to one's head, then we have a lot of issues regarding the nature, legitimacy, and role of government to work out before we can fruitfully address the current question.
That has not been said in any pejorative sense; I have great respect for your opinion. -jsh --- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > In a message dated 12/3/02 2:51:15 AM, > [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > > << --- david friedman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > "My point is that moral worthiness isn't being > predicated of the newborn infant or fertilized ovum > but of the adult that it turned into. Whatever the > reasons are that I am cruel and dishonest, cruel and > dishonest people deserve to have bad things happen > to > them. That, at least, is a moral intuition that many > people find convincing." > > Well put. I'm not an existentialist, but I do agree > to at least some extent that we make our own moral > choices. > > My point is merely that, since some of who we become > is the product of things outside of our control, > even > hard-hearted* policies should have a soft edge. > > -jsh >> > > Well let's say that it turns out that my poverty > isn't due to my laziness and > weakness, as my family always thought, and instead > because I have obsessive > compulsive disorder, manic depression (called > "biploar disorder" by the > politically correct these days), attention deficit > disorder and a panic > disorder (apparently there's more than one so I'm > not sure which one I might > have). We might all agree that I deserve better > than what I've been able to > manage for myself and that I didn't ask to be a > bundle of mental illnesses. > Now how does any of that give me the right to point > a gun at you and force > you to give me your money? Since I don't have that > right myself, how could I > possibly delegate it to the government to extort > money from you on my behalf? > It's certainly not your fault I'm a basket case. > > DBL > __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com
