[ExI] A Small Request

[Lee Corbin]

Stathis writes

> If you develop a brain tumour one of the effects of which is that you
> don't believe there is anything wrong with you, would you (i.e. the
> present, healthy you) want to be forced to have treatment?

Ideally, only if I had signed up for such a circumstance arising.

> If so, who should take responsibility for forcing you?

Ideally, the holders of my contract. By pointing to my signature,
they could claim the right of inflicting the agreed-upon treatment.

> And is it ethical if you are then charged for treatment to
> which, at least at the time, you did not consent?

As you can see, my libertarian solution addresses this concern.

(How should I describe a general international "liberal"? Alas,
the term is used peculiarly by Americans. I hope that none take
offense, then, if I use the term "socialist" to denote those who
see a need for government in the social arena to provide
benefit, quite beyond the minimal needs of holding a country
together, enforcing the laws, and defending the nation against
other systems imposed by force from without.)

IT seems that comparitively rare exigencies are what most
often prop up socialist calls for government oversight. For
example, a socialist has ready answers to questions like
"what about someone who has no family and cannot afford
medical care?", "what about being seized by a rare brain
condition that turns one irrational?", "what if a child...?", 
etc.

Since our instinct as engineers is to let no possible case
go unanswered or unprovided, it is very tempting to simply
have government intercede in all non-specified cases.

Yes, in a land where people were taxed either not at all
or only at the barest possible minimal rate, and where
the state did not look out for all exigencies, the weight
of individual responsibility is great. But I myself would
risk living in such a country, in exchange for a complete
set of liberties, and for the freedom of not having a
tax collector turn to me to finance every human
aberration occuring anywhere in society.

Lee