Hi David,
On May 12, 2009, at 3:00 PM, David R. Block wrote:
Good big government is a contradiction.
I think this is the root of our disagreement. The basic libertarian
belief, without much exaggeration, is that:
* government can do no right
* self-interested corporations can do no wrong
I'm sorry, I don't buy those assumptions, any more than I buy the
equivalent assumptions of the Left:
* government can do no wrong
* self-interested corporations can do no right
All are caricatures easily supported by selective use of data, but
miss the deeper reality. There *are* some things governments do
effectively, and there are some morally positive things done by
corporations.
This is a lot like the old dietary debates about "carbs are good / fat
is bad" vs. "carbs are bad / fat is good". The reality is that _some_
fats are good and _some_ carbs are good, and some of both are evil.
Recognizing that fundamental truth is necessary so we can
intelligently (and empirically) ask the questions:
- when is government good
- when is government evil
- when are corporations good
- when are corporations evil
If you answer any of those as "always" or "never", then it is
literally impossible to have a rational debate on these topics. Sure,
we can trade clever barbs, but we won't actually advance knowledge.
-- Ernie P.
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