Subject:
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Re: Which of the Ten Commandments are Libertarian? (was: Re: Mormon bashing again)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Sun, 5 Mar 2000 05:51:34 GMT
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Reply-To:
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lpieniazek@novera.&spamcake&com
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Viewed:
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916 times
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Todd Lehman wrote:
> Hmm, hmm. A tangent... If the Ten Commandments had been written by a
> Libertarian instead of a Christian, I wonder how different they would look?
> Would there still be 10? Or only 5? Or would there be 15?
You only need 1... this one:
8 - Thou shall not steal.
All the rest that make sense derive from it. (left hanging and unproved
in a previous thread is the assertion that "all rights are property
rights" and "no initiation of force" and "people can do as they please
so long as they don't violate the rights of others" are transmutable)
This one there are no exceptions from. It's a pretty clear restatement
of "all rights are property rights"
1-4 we can dismiss outright as they have to do with how this putative
god wants his groveling done.
The rest of 5-10 are usually good ideas...
5 - Honor thy Father and thy Mother.
- unless they're rotters who don't deserve it because they abuse their
kids or in general violate the rights of others and therefore aren't fit
parents.
6 - Thou shalt not kill.
- unless it's unavoidable in response to someone else trying to initiate
force against you and lesser responses would not suffice. Change it to
"the state shall not kill as a punishment for a crime" and I'd accept it
with no exceptions.
7 - Thou shall not commit adultry.
- unless your marriage contract specifies otherwise.
9 - Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
- this is a kind of stealing so covered under 8
10 - Thou shall not covet thy neighbor's house.
- probably a good idea but rather unenforcably weak, really. If you want
to covet, go ahead. It's morally bad for you to get TOO envious, but as
long as you don't ACT on your envy, go for it.
> Commandments 1, 2, 3, 4, and 7 strike me as being rather non-Libertarian
> (from what I understand about Libertarianism). Not sure about 5, but 5 is
> probably a lot like 7 -- someone's own private business and just a wise
> recommendation rather than something proscribed.
Good start, but as I say, I assert that 8 is all you need.
--
Larry Pieniazek - lpieniazek@mercator.com - http://my.voyager.net/lar
http://www.mercator.com. Mercator, the e-business transformation company
fund Lugnet(tm): http://www.ebates.com/ ref: lar, 1/2 $$ to lugnet.
Note: this is a family forum!
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