Off Topic — HabitableZone

Off Topic » in reply to Most of the time, it isn't a problem

The Old Order Amish should live around you
Mary Anne — (archived)

Then we would see how tolerant you would be of their steel wheels ripping up the public roads because their religious beliefs preclude their use of rubber tires. Is it coercion to preserve a common resource or a public facility at the expense of someone's individual desire or belief?

"Social engineering" is also called "public works". I don't like cholera. Does that mean that my insistence on sewers and separation of drinking water from that which is flushed is dictating a contradiction to someone else's choice for his family to dig a cesspool near a public well to avoid paying sewer fees?

With civilization comes social responsibilities, something too many people try to brush off under the guise of rough and rugged individualism. What is convenient for me isn't necessarily an inalienable right; the difference between life and death is. The difference between social stability and chaos on the one hand or stratification on the other is an aspect of "the pursuit of happiness" that needs constant renegotiation in a democracy.

Regards--
Mary Anne

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