[740] in libertarians
Re: Zimmerman case
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Vernon Imrich)
Thu Feb 23 18:22:52 1995
To: sethf@MIT.EDU
Cc: libertarians@MIT.EDU
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 15:55:14 EST
From: Vernon Imrich <vimrich@MIT.EDU>
|> Sorry, while it would be nice to think of this case as motivated
|> by an evil government repressing The People, it was in reality
|> instigated by an evil businessman in the service of monopolistic goals
|> and distortion of the free market. The export-control nonsense is one
What else is new? That's why we're libertarians and not Republicans.
Republican's think government is great as long as it's helping their
businesses. Libertarians don't want ANY people to use laws to thwart
competition whether they're rich or poor.
As for who we get angry with, it's a judgement call. If a girlfriend
cheats on a guy, some get mad at the other man, some get mad at
the girlfriend. Libertarians tend to get mad at the government for
being the agent of the real legal power (the girl). Democrats get mad at
the people who have the "audactity to abuse the noble law" out of it's
intended contex (the other man).
The difference here is how much you trust the government (i.e. your
girl). If she's always doing things like this, you start to be less
angry with the other men and more angry with her. If you have faith
in her, you just assume that it was the othe guy corrupting her who was
at fault. In short, Libertarians view their government as the sleasiest
cheat around. Blaming the RSA holders for this would be like blaming
the johns for the prostitution business.
BTW be sure to reverse the sexual roles in the above if it makes you
feel better. It's just an analogy.
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| Vernon Imrich | market failure, n. The inabilty of the |
| MIT, Dept. OE | market to recover from a blow by |
| Cambridge, MA 02139 | intervention. (The Exchange) |
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| MIT LP: http://www.mit.edu:8001/activities/libertarians/home.html |
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