[extropy-chat] give a small window into the military mind

c c beb_cc at yahoo.com
Sun Jul 3 18:30:46 UTC 2005


Mike,
I'm not just trying to break your balls, I want a glimpse into the military mind-- an alien mind to an old queer such as myself. In legal and moral terms you have earned the government benefits you have now and those you will have as you age. But how do you justify those benefits on libertarian grounds? Though the funds you and all the other veterans receive are merely a small fraction of the government pie, they are given to you for past services, in a similar way to how an unemployment check is given to someone who has been laid off; and in a similar fashion to how disability benefits are received by someone who no longer works.
No doubt most defense personnel risk their lives, nevertheless so do laborers who hold dangerous jobs in the private sector.
I ask this, among other reasons, because it is my understanding that virtue is its own reward, a soldier sailor or airman takes greater than average risks and is compensated with all sorts of benefits-- and I have looked into the benefits--  that most agree are deserved. However from a libertarian viewpoint couldn't it be said that when someone enlists in one of the branches of the Services he has signed a contract giving him certain rights however preeminently the right to serve? All the goodies a serviceman receives in the Service or afterwards are secondary or tertiary. Joining the Service is more than a career, or less than a career depending upon how you look at it. A man joins to serve or he joins for a reason or reasons not in line with the mission of the Service. A fellow may be enticed with benefits, but that's very obviously not at all what he is recruited for. Since in the service virtue is without question its own reward how, again, can you on libertarian terms justify
 getting government benefits until death? Now, I'm sure there is a good explanation, so I'd like to get it from the horse's 'mouth'.



		
---------------------------------
Yahoo! Sports
 Rekindle the Rivalries. Sign up for Fantasy Football
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/attachments/20050703/590f72f7/attachment.html>


More information about the extropy-chat mailing list