Current Events — HabitableZone

Current Events » in reply to P.S.: a cross-reference

Group action?
Tom Brosz — (archived)

<Political and social policy is group action.

Wrong. In a free society it's individuals doing things. Everything else is a smoke screen. Anyone talking "group action" is usually talking coercing other people do what he thinks ought to be done. Beware of politicians using collective terms like "society," or any other term that lumps people into masses.

Perhaps you might comprehend government assistance to the poor, sick and old - and the portion of your taxes that help to fund it - a trifle more easily if you consider havng traded a small piece of personal economic liberty for national economic security.

...Think about the labor wars that had been going on for the previous 60 years: the Haymarket Riots were just the most famous battle in that war. Now tell me the nation could not have fallen if the government were to be seen as doing nothing to help the nation. [Mary Anne]

Interesting. When you boil it down, both you and Mary Anne imply that government assistance in some ways really was and is "your money or your life." Bread and circuses to keep the mobs away from the gates. Maybe I'm just being cynical.

Also interesting is that everyone seems to be avoiding one of my main points, which is the government's self interest in using the mechanism of wealth redistribution to gain and keep political power. It goes without saying that those who favor the government's position are going to paint a picture of the private sector as impotent in solving these problems.

Again, you all seem to see right through a corporation telling a story to fit its own needs and ulterior motives. Where's the skepticism when government is involved?

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