From: John Clark (jonkc@worldnet.att.net)
Date: Fri Sep 08 2000 - 09:25:51 MDT
Paul Hughes <paul@planetp.cc> Wrote:
>their must be a better way that does not involve government intervention.
Well, there's private charity. It's true that if nobody cares about the poor they
won't get anything, but in that case how would government help? If people won't
give money voluntarily why will they vote for politicians who make them?
I admit to being a little intrigued by your insistence that there must be a "better way"
to get people to treat their fellows better. I can only think of 3 ways to get anybody
to do anything, force, love, or trade; government uses the first, extropians tend to
like the last two better, if you can think of a fourth I'd love to hear it.
>So as Michael Lorrey said, "don't fix something that ain't broke".
>Well, the current system we have is obviously broken,
Right now, more people are richer, healthier, and better educated than in any
other time in human history. Right now the market is a stronger force than in
any other time in human history. Coincidence? I don't think so.
>There is a saying, "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof". The claim
>of free-marketers is that they will do a better job at handling civil liberties
>issues. Well, I'm still waiting.....
Then wait no longer. Shoving 6 million people into ovens is pretty extraordinary but
the free market didn't do that, a government did that. Forcing productive farmers off
their land to make huge corrupt poorly run collective farms leading to the starvation
death of at least 20 million is pretty extraordinary but the free market didn't do that,
a government did that. Forcing hundreds of thousands of teenagers, who were too
young to vote, to fight and often die in a pointless war 12 thousand miles from their
home is pretty extraordinary but the free market didn't do that, a government did that.
Not that corporations are perfect of course, they can be rude to their customers and
sometimes they even make bad tires, but it's not quite the same thing is it.
John K Clark jonkc@att.net
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