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On 05/17/2011 12:58 AM, Amon Zero wrote:
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On 17 May 2011 07:43, Kelly Anderson <span><<a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:kellycoinguy@gmail.com">kellycoinguy@gmail.com</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
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How can you say libertarianism has never been tried? It wasn't
perfect<br>
libertarianism, but it was a lot closer than it is today.</blockquote>
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<div>Kelly, I think you've got a good point. The thing is, I'm
far from anti-libertarian - catch me at the right moment and I
might even describe myself as libertarian - it's just that
Rafal's frankly extreme stance forced me to draw a line.</div>
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Extreme adherence to the truth is a virtue, not a vice.<br>
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<div>I think you're right that America past, particularly 19th
Century, was more libertarian than today, and yes, I would
agree there has clearly been net societal gain from the
achievements made in that time. But, as you say, there was
also of course suffering directly caused by the process.</div>
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Nope, not so much.<br>
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<div>It seems quite clear that there's a trade-off between the
innovation that results from economic freedom, and protection
from suffering offered by legal safeguards.</div>
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Legal safeguards against actual crimes, i.e., a direct or indirect
initiation of force, were in place already. The rest, as and to the
degree it departed from full individual freedom to do pretty much
anything but initiate force gained no one much of anything and
actually has done a tremendous amount of harm.<br>
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<div>Imagine a continuum between extreme libertarianism (0) and
extreme paternalism (1).</div>
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Freedom is not extreme. It is simply the only moral basis and the
one that leads to the best results. Compromise between the best and
the not so good to downright evil, compromise between a morally
valid stance and immorality leads only to progressive and
accelerating evil. That is the message of the "mixed economy" about
to blow up in our face.<br>
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- s<br>
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