[ExI] Call To Libertarians

[spike]

-----Original Message-----
From: extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org
[mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of Richard
Loosemore
Subject: Re: [ExI] Call To Libertarians

spike wrote:
>> ... On Behalf Of Richard Loosemore

>The inclusion of "theaters" was strictly optional:  not essential to my
argument.  A throwaway...

Ja, that one caught my attention.  If any government builds a theatre, that
government dictates what is played there.

>Would it be more accurate, then, to say that Libertarianism is about
SUPPORTING the  government funding of:

Keep in mind that I differentiate between libertarianism and Libertarianism.
One has a capital L.  I use lower case.

>   Roads,	yes

>    Bridges,	yes

>    Police,	yes

>    Firefighters,	 yes

>    Prisons,	yes, but perhaps not the luxury outfits we see so commonly
today.

>    Schools,	yes

>    Public transport in places where universal use of cars would  bring
cities to a standstill		yes, if the public transport is
self-sustaining without (or perhaps minimal) government subsidy

>    The armed forces,	yes

>    Universities, and publicly funded scholarships for poor students,	

Yes if by "poor students" you meant students with little money, as opposed
to bad students.  High SATers, yes.

 >   National research laboratories like the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention  yes

>    Snow plows,	yes, operated by non-union drivers

>    Public libraries,	yes

 >   Emergency and disaster assistance;	yes,
 
>   Legal protection for those too poor to fight against the exploitative
power of corporations;	no, let them take their trade elsewhere.

 >   Government agencies to scrutinize corrupt practices by  corporations
and wealthy individuals,	This might be OK if we balance it by having
corporations which would scrutinize corrupt practices by government and poor
individuals

>    Basic healthcare for old people who worked all their lives
       for corporations who paid them so little in salary that
       they could not save for retirement without starving to
       death before they reached retirement...  	yes

>    And sundry other programs that keep the very poor just above
       the subsistence level, so we do not have to step over their
       dead bodies on the street all the time, and so they do not
       wander around in feral packs, looking for middle-class people
       that they can kill and eat...

{8^D  Yes by all means.  The whole feral pack thing never really did appeal.
I am much too dignified to howl at the moon.  Furthermore, all the
middle-class people I know just don't look all that tasty to me.  

>... but it is about NOT supporting the government funding of theaters?

Good, you scared me.

>...In that case I misunderstood, and all western democracies are more or
less libertarian already, give or take the 0.0001 percent of their funding
that goes toward things like theaters and opera houses.  Richard Loosemore

They could stand to be more libertarian.  The US and Europe are likely to be
headed that direction anyway, even if not by choice.  They will go kicking
and screaming, but the previous generation has devoured the seed grain.  Now
we must all face the consequences.

spike