Not with a primarily economic argument. But an emphasis on how the
problems with catching runaway slaves motivated the slaveholders to
erode the right to a fair trial which everyone else valued would
probably have done less to create a bloody war than the absolutist
rhetoric they actually used.
>Unfortunately, however, individuals can and do maximize their happiness
>by coercion. That's the problem. I could have a grand old time stealing
>$50 million from Bill Gates (if I didn't get caught and had no
>conscience) and he'd probably barely miss the money. (He's not even
>trying to spend all his money when he's alive anyway.)
That clearly argues for a rule that discourages theft, but does it
argue for a religious type rule, or does it argue for a belief more
like "theft penalizes everyone by forcing them to spend more defending
against theft"? Probably depends on how smart the people you're trying
to sell the rule to are.
-- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Peter McCluskey | pcm@rahul.net | Has anyone used http://crit.org http://www.rahul.net/pcm | to comment on your web pages?