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Here is my last post in this thread, because I feel that it is going
nowhere:
My views are irreconcilable with those of the libertarians on this
list. Here's the way I view the world:
1) Life has no inherent value. Our being here is random, and
there is no purpose to our lives.
2) "Human progress" is bullshit. We are no further along as a
species now than we were in Plato's time. Basically, we're
going nowhere fast.
3) People have no essential "rights." Rights don't exist.
This is a theme often found in the work of many modern
philosophers, such as Foucault.
5) Taking all three premises above, the only way I can find to
evaluate what is right and what is wrong is "do what causes the
least pain." I guess this is basically pragmatism. For
example, if raising taxes to 95% would feed everyone in the
world (I'm just speaking hypothetically), then I would advocate
this, because this would lead to less pain in the world. (And
I don't consider some people having to sell their Ferraris
"pain." ;-) Someone here said that each time taxes are raised,
we lose freedom. So what? First of all, what is "freedom"?
Second of all, what is so great about it that it should be
evaluated before everything else?
So I guess when people say "but by making the insurance companies pay
for the medical care, you are stealing from them," my answer is "So
what?"
I understand that this way of viewing the world is not shared by many
on this list, so it seems that it would be damn near impossible for us
to reach agreement.
- --
Nathan Saper ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) | http://www.well.com/user/natedog/
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Standard PGP & PGP/MIME OK | AOL Instant Messenger: linuxfu
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