Thursday, February 07, 2002

Force is immoral?

I saw this link from Daily Pundit and thought "what can be wrong with someone who's both a Christian and a libertarian?"

Plenty.

I'll confess that I didn't read it all. But I did read this:
Once Linda exercised her right to decide by refusing to give Bill water, the only way Bill or I or anyone else can get Bill the water he needs to maintain his life is to use force against Linda. And libertarians abhor the initiation of force even more than they abhor Bill's death. Let there be no mistake: force can and does overcome rights. But, force should never be initiated to implement rights.


That seems pretty clear.

Life is too short for me to get into a discussion of libertarianism. I'm sympathetic, but I'm not going to argue about how many libertarian angels would dance on the head of a pin if the government got off their backs.

But I'll say it's not a suicide pact. You only have the rights you defend. And if you're not willing to defend your rights you don't deserve them.

Most pacifists are just wimps with high self-esteem. They live by the sufferance and forebearance of others. Far from being paragons, they are free riders if not out-and-out parasites.

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