AudioBanter.com - View Single Post - Day in the Life of Joe Middle-Class Republican

wrote:

On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 15:59:24 -0400, Susan Hogarth
wrote:

It does allow you to look at how things were and then compare them to
how things have turned out since.

And that tells you exactly nothing about how things would have been now
with a free market.

They do tell you how the free market drove things to be in such a
mess.

What free market? The "Edwardian" free market? Puh-lease - don't make me
laugh.

Let's see ... government was around then, so why wouldn't you assume
that history tells you that *government* was responsible for society's
ills? Perhaps because that contradicts the *interpretation* of history
you learned in *government*-regulated schools?

This libertarian fantasy of yours, that is supposedly based on human
nature, reason and intellect, tell me what country currently has come
closest to achieving it?

You ask me who has come closest to 'achieving a fantasy'? Nothing like a
preloaded question, is there?

My bets on Somalia and Ethiopia. Minimal regulation. Right to carry
arms, most charity delivered through volunteerism.

Asking what nation has been the 'most free' is problematic. The same
characteristics which lead to a strong people also can lead to a strong
government - again you have the cause-and-effect problem.

But the question ought not be 'Is it better for people to be controlled
by government or by their own voluntary actions?', but instead 'Is it
right for some people to control others through government?'

Compare this to societies that implemented mandatory education and
regulate the market.

Like the Soviet Union? Like East Germany? Like China?

And why do you think children should be forced to attend schools,
anyway? I thought you *objected* to child labor!

The US, UK, western Europe. Do you begin to see
what is achieved with sensible regulation, state education, and
government infrastructure?

Ah, nice touch with that 'sensible regulation'. Who could object to
'sensible regulation'?

You can pretend all this would happen without "statism" but its never
occurred anywhere, despite its "great appeal" and "natural
rationality". Why do you think that is?

All *what* would happen? Interstate highways? Sunurban sprawl?
Cookie-cutter schools? Warfare on a scale never seen before?

- Susan