Difference between revisions of "A Non-Libertarian FAQ"
From Critiques Of Libertarianism
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Immigrants, residents, and visitors contract through the oath of citizenship (swearing to uphold the laws and constitution), residency permits, and visas. Citizens reaffirm it in whole or part when they take political office, join the armed forces, etc. This contract has a fairly common form: once entered into, it is implicitly continued until explicitly revoked. Many other contracts have this form: some leases, most utility services (such as phone and electricity), etc. | Immigrants, residents, and visitors contract through the oath of citizenship (swearing to uphold the laws and constitution), residency permits, and visas. Citizens reaffirm it in whole or part when they take political office, join the armed forces, etc. This contract has a fairly common form: once entered into, it is implicitly continued until explicitly revoked. Many other contracts have this form: some leases, most utility services (such as phone and electricity), etc. | ||
| − | Some libertarians make a big deal about needing to actually sign a contract. Take them to a restaurant and see if they think it ethical to walk out without paying because they didn't sign anything. Even if it is a restaurant with a minimum charge and they haven't ordered anything. The restaurant gets to set the price and the method of contract so that even your presence creates a debt. What is a libertarian going to do about that? Create a regulation? | + | Some libertarians make a big deal about needing to actually sign a contract. Take them to a restaurant and see if they think it ethical to walk out without paying because they didn't sign anything. Even if it is a restaurant with a minimum charge and they haven't ordered anything. The restaurant gets to set the price and the method of contract so that even your presence creates a debt. Shrink wrap contracts are common in several business realms: government too. What is a libertarian going to do about that? Create a regulation? |
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| + | We might also point out that libertarians assume property, which is just a different "social contract that nobody signed". Ask anybody when they agreed to the property system, and if they have a choice to opt out and not respect the property others claim. | ||
====The social contract is like no other because it can be "unilaterally" modified.==== | ====The social contract is like no other because it can be "unilaterally" modified.==== | ||
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; "Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place." | ; "Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place." | ||
| − | : This quote is one of the central ideas of "The Law", a piece of philosophical propaganda full of errors and uncompelling arguments. Let's start with a simple demonstration of its ambiguity. Did men make laws to support or suppress life, liberty, and property? At first glance, since we like those three glittering generalities, we'd say support. But if we change the generalities and keep the "logic" the same: | + | : This quote is one of the central ideas of "The Law", a piece of philosophical propaganda full of errors and uncompelling arguments. Let's start with a simple demonstration of its ambiguity. Did men make laws to support or suppress life, liberty, and property? At first glance, since we like those three [Fallacies_Of_Philosophy#Glittering_Generalities_Of_Propaganda|glittering generalities]], we'd say support. But if we change the generalities and keep the "logic" the same: |
: "Death, enslavement, and indigence do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that death, enslavement, and indigence existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place." | : "Death, enslavement, and indigence do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that death, enslavement, and indigence existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place." | ||
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: Did Ayn Rand pay her taxes out of friendship then? That's a new one on me. | : Did Ayn Rand pay her taxes out of friendship then? That's a new one on me. | ||
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| + | ; "The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities." | ||
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| + | So much wrong packed into two sentences! (a) Which individual rights? Rights of conquest? Who decides what rights and their extent? (b) Change "when did you stop beating your wife" to "when did you start denying individual rights". (c) We can be defenders of minorities without defending ALL minorities. (d) Rand made plenty of choices of which individual minorities to defend (or admire) and which to despise and attack. (e) And yet those individuals comprise the entirety, a majority. Ayn Rand was not good at paradoxes. | ||
====Andre Marrou==== | ====Andre Marrou==== | ||
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: There is no "true law". Innumerable political and religious sects might claim it, but I'd think that if there was such a thing, people could recognize it and agree on it. | : There is no "true law". Innumerable political and religious sects might claim it, but I'd think that if there was such a thing, people could recognize it and agree on it. | ||
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| + | ====John Stuart Mill==== | ||
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| + | ; "That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others." | ||
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| + | : This sentence, from the first chapter of his "On Liberty", seems rather final. But a mere two paragraphs later, he starts explaining at greater length traditional liberal duties: "There are also many positive acts for the benefit of others, which he may rightfully be compelled to perform; such as, to give evidence in a court of justice; to bear his fair share in the common defense, or in any other joint work necessary to the interest of the society of which he enjoys the protection; and to perform certain acts of individual beneficence, such as saving a fellow-creature's life, or interposing to protect the defenseless against ill-usage, things which whenever it is obviously a man's duty to do, he may rightfully be made responsible to society for not doing." Mill was obviously not a libertarian. | ||
====Unattributed==== | ====Unattributed==== | ||
