Questions for Libertarians . . Local television ran a lecture given by Dinesh D'Souza at Oregon State University about a month ago. . Among the points he made was one about the "liberal assumption" that if you grant freedom to people they will almost always use that freedom wisely, to good effect, for the best. . Needless to say, and D'Souza was quick to point this out, this is also the exact same assumption at the heart of Libertarianism. Trouble is, he said, this is the exact opposite of the Christian view that mankind is born in sin and, lacking redemption, will almost invariably --sooner more probably than later-- misuse that freedom and screw things up for all concerned. . Needless to say this poses a problem for libertarians. If freedom just about guarantees that its exercise will result in bad behavior, bad outcomes, and bad moral decisions, how can anyone justify a politics based on unfettered freedom ? . Answer : You can't. Hence the US system is based on checks and balances and rule of law. . This also leads to the question : How can libertarianism be justified when its basic operating premise denies original sin ? . Or, to use an example that D'Souza employed : What would libertarianism look like if it started out with the Christian assumption that human beings will normally act in sinful ways that ultimately are anything but rational self-interest optimization ways ? . I would like to see an answer to that. . . Billy
-- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
