From: Lee Daniel Crocker (lee@piclab.com)
Date: Mon Nov 25 2002 - 13:17:22 MST
> (Alexander Sheppard <alexandersheppard@hotmail.com>):
>
> >A system were people were not rewarded according to how valued
> >their work was would be far more unjust, and also act as a disincentive
> >of doing good stuff since you would be just as rewarded as the one who
> >didn't.
>
> Well, I think this viewpoint is actually very anti-libertarian, because it
> presupposes that other people have the right to determine for a person who
> is "good stuff" by imposing a system of material rewards and punishments. I
> have no idea why anyone else should be given this right, and in the worst
> case, where you have one person imposing a very brutal system of rewards
> and punishments, that's just dictatorship. I think that there ought be a
> free flow of resources in a society, so that people can decide for
> themselves what is "good stuff".
"Freedom" is the state of everyone deciding for himself what he
desires and finds valuable. We generally seem to agree on that.
But now the question is how one acquires the ability to exercise
freedom. Nature imposes only a few constraints: find water,
calories, clean air, shelter. One can accomplish that either by
individual action, which is inefficient (leading to primitive
hunter-gatherers), or by participating in a system of trade that
takes advantage of everyone's differing skills and desires and
rewards everyone with the fruits of cooperation.
What you're missing from your understanding is where the rewards
come from: if you want the rewards of trade, then by definition you
must act in a way that some /other/ free person desires enough that
he will freely choose to reward you for it. The question isn't why
/he/ gets to choose your actions--he doesn't. The question is why
/you/ have any right to demand reward from him if you only act in
your own self-chosen way. You have no right to demand anything from
anyone just because you choose to pursue your own interests; that
is you enslaving them. Freedom demands that you grant everyone else
the same rights as yourself to choose what they desire. If you want
their cooperation in /your/ desires, you must bargain for it by
cooperating in theirs. You still have the freedom to choose among
all the people on the planet whose desires and offered rewards best
fit your personal talents and goals--but you still must keep your
end of the bargain. And it does no good to pretend that you can
simply act on your own volition in your own way and expect anyone
else to feed you and shelter you just because you want it.
-- Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lee/> "All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past, are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC
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