Subject:
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Re: Goodness of Man? (was: Re: Merry Christmas from the Libertarian Party
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Sat, 1 Jan 2000 23:19:43 GMT
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Reply-To:
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lpieniazek@(AvoidSpam)novera.com
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Viewed:
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1511 times
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Mr L F Braun wrote:
> > A societal system needs to be stable to survive. Anarchy is not statically stable,
> but it's also not even dynamically stable.
>
> I'd say this is true. I have the same fundamental objection that I have to Owenite
> socialist utopias, Marxian communism, Libertopias (I like that word, Larry), and
> vaguer forms of anarchy--human nature must change, a very long-term process, before
> anarchy of any sort can work on a large scale.
See, where Libertopia differs from other -topias is fundamental. First,
we are not claiming that it's perfect. Instead, we claim there IS no
perfection in society. There always will be situations where things turn
out unfairly (is a freak tornado "fair"?) or where the guilty
inadvertantly walk free. It's merely a shorthand for a society in which
rights are paramount. That's a definitional thing. You can't use the
word unless that's what you mean, unless you are deliberately trying to
be confusing or obstructionistic.
Second, and this is one I've convinced myself of, but which almost no
one else agrees with, human nature does NOT need to change in order for
us to successfully move in the Libertopian direction. People already are
good enough, honest enough, industrious enough for it to work. Pockets
of it exist today, at least in limited form. I have no idea how to
convince the rest of you of that point except to repeat my assertion,
which is rather a poor debating technique, and by giving examples. But
no example list can be exhaustive, it can't be a definitive proof.
So I always try to turn it round. Why does everyone else believe people
are bad? What a downer if that's what you really think? Why not believe
in the best of people, expect it, and deal with it if you don't get it,
instead of expecting the worst.
When I mail someone a check, I expect they are going to be good for the
goods I've won at auction, and I'll deal with the consequences if they
aren't.
--
Larry Pieniazek larryp@novera.com http://my.voyager.net/lar
- - - Web Application Integration! http://www.novera.com
fund Lugnet(tm): http://www.ebates.com/ ref: lar, 1/2 $$ to lugnet.
NOTE: Soon to be lpieniazek@tsisoft.com :-)
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