From: Jim Choate <ravage@ssz.com>
Date: Sat, 13 Sep 1997 08:06:14 +0800
To: cypherpunks@ssz.com (Cypherpunks Distributed Remailer)
Subject: In Defense of Libertarianism, from HotWired's Synapse (fwd)
Message-ID: <199709130004.TAA23630@einstein.ssz.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text



Forwarded message:

> Date: Fri, 12 Sep 1997 07:47:21 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
> Subject: In Defense of Libertarianism, from HotWired's Synapse

>    Libertarianism is not about anarchy, utopia, or selfishness. Instead,
>    libertarians simply are skeptical of "nanny government," and recognize
>    the many ways state power has been abused in the past. They believe
>    that government programs like health assistance, Social Security,
>    foreign aid, and corporate welfare do more harm than good. They argue
>    that everyone must be equal before the law, and everyone has human
>    rights to personal security, to property, and to free speech that the
>    government must protect, not violate.

If the Libertarians are so gung-ho on avoiding governmental (especialy
federal) intervention in their lives why do they support the 14th Amendment?
Why do they steadfastly stick to the position that the states should be
forced to be homogenous in their laws under the federal government? It is
clear that the founding fathers wanted the situation in the several states
to be quite dynamic and diverse, otherwise why "Congress shall make no
law..." and not something more comprehensive preventing the states from such
laws as well?

Why do they further not ask why the 9th and 10th are not fully respected and
used by both the legislative and judicial branches of the federal
government?

No, the Libertarians have an agenda that is broader than simply reducing the
intervention of government in our daily lives. They want a situation that
provides them the upper hand, both politicaly and economicaly, while at the
same time reducing the ability of their opponents to gain an advantage. From
this perspective they are just another elephant or jackass...


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