Libertarian Discussion Forum Message Board

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Libertarian Discussion Forum

Public Reply Prvt Reply Mark as Last Read File

Previous 10 Next 10 Previous Next

To: Neocon who wrote (2106)	3/10/1999 11:51:00 PM
From: Daniel W. Koehler	Read Replies (2) of 13060

neocon <<The culture is not solely based on individual rights, but also on notions of the "common good" >> Neocon, my friend, we have discussed the "common good" issue before. It strikes me as obvious that individual rights and common good are mutually exclusive abstractions. While individual rights can be specifically enumerated in law, I fail to see how anyone can presume to enumerate what the common good is! What the common good school presumes that most people cannot be relied upon to not soil their own nest. Therefore, the government, in its wisdom, must constrain them for the "good" of everyone else. Two fallacies here - that the government can know what's good for me and also know what's good for "everyone else". The fallacy of composition writ large.! The common good assumption makes perfect sense if one believes that people are both stupid and dishonest in the Hobbesian sense. Then a strong autocratic government is the only remedy. Remember Hobbes was writing in a time of civil war and extreme social unrest under a weak monarchy and was actually arguing for more extreme state power to avert this kind of social chaos. I have to agree with Ayn Rand that the common good is a meaningless abstraction. The common good is neither "common" or "good" for it implies a one size fits all solution to problem of diversity. Defining the common good, social justice and the like is a fool's errand. I trust no one to look out for my interests better than myself. Do you really trust a Hobbesian sovereign to define what the common good is? I prefer to stick to the enumerated individual rights in the Constitution rather than some latter-day politicized view of what the "common good" is. Ciao, Daniel

Report TOU Violation

Share This Post

Public Reply Prvt Reply Mark as Last Read File

Previous 10 Next 10 Previous Next