[ExI] A Small Request

[Rafal Smigrodzki]

On Feb 11, 2008 12:48 AM, Lee Corbin <lcorbin at rawbw.com> wrote:
> 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.
>
### Amen to that, brother Lee! :)

Rafal