From: Rafal Smigrodzki (rms2g@virginia.edu)
Date: Thu Sep 12 2002 - 13:22:28 MDT
Dale wrote:
> The fact that people seek ever more of the meaning of their
> lives in private rather than public life is understandable but
> regrettable in my opinion -- I believe that this is a kind of
> abdication that renders us deeply vulnerable to those to whom we
> deliver over the reins of authority by default.
and
> This is a terrible time to retreat into separatist enclaves of
> intellectual movements outside the conversation of actual people in
> the world, or even literal fantasies of separation, private islands
> or outer space colonies where one imagines one can be permanently
> free from the annoyance of perspectives different from one's own.
> Best, Dale
### A heartfelt applause from me. I absolutely agree that a retreat from the
world of politics is a losing position, rightly leading to privations,
rather than privacy.
Yet, a libertarian must remain acutely conscious of the fundamental
wrongness of politics, which is the art and practice of using and
manipulating organized social violence, lacking which political bodies would
be merely discussion societies. Avoiding politics comes at the peril of
death but for a libertarian the only legitimate use for politics is to
reduce its overall impact on the society. Actual enjoyment of politics for
its own sake might pervert this stance, just like a penchant for violence
might change a professional soldier into a murderer. This is not the road I
would take myself.
Rafal
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 09:16:59 MST