From: Barbara Lamar (altamiratexas@earthlink.net)
Date: Sun Jul 29 2001 - 17:26:40 MDT
Lee Corbin wrote:
<Olga wrote
> Except to say, that if any of you so-called
> classical liberals (sometimes this translates
> to libertarian - is this correct? [Yes])
> can give me your scenario of how you would
> have solved the segregation problem in the
> South during the 1950s and 1960s (or earlier,
> dare one hope?), I'll eat my ACLU membership
> card.
You probably have in mind a "solution" in which
one day someone takes strong action and everyone
must agree to this action, or else! Fortunately,
where there is great freedom and liberty, no one
can take such strong action. >
Lee, I believe you may be overlooking the fact the the US Constitution, as
originally drafted, only attempted to assure the freedom of a certain group
of people.
I would think that a true libertarian would have felt it his or her duty to
do whatever was necessary to overthrow a government based on such a
constitution (or to amend the constitution). I've always admired Nat
Turner's spirit.
The situation in which some members of a society have been subject to
grossly unfair, crippling laws, is not the same as the one in which everyone
starts out with equal legal status. You may not have been to the southern US
during the 1950's when a person could be arrested for drinking from the
wrong water fountain or entering a public restroom (built, incidentally,
with tax revenues to which you contributed), so perhaps you don't understand
that there were actually LAWS enforcing arrogance, nastiness, and racism.
Barbara
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