WHY WE DO THIS…
I’m catching up on comment replies. This morning I read what was to be one of Robert Feinman’s final comments on The Writing On The Wal and it gave me pause as I considered how well he defined what I, and I believe Jonathan strive to accomplish.
“My experience has been that most people do not operate at a level that shows concern for anything other than themselves.”
That’s a very cynical view of human nature, but is common among libertarians. It must be a burden to feel that you live in a dog-eat-dog world where you can’t rely on the humanity of your fellows.
I think the three of us approach human nature from the opposite point of view: people are inherently generous and altruistic and only act selfish when the social norms of helping one’s fellow man breakdown.
For every example of selfishness I can give you a dozen examples of selflessness.
None of us get paid for what we do, but I, at least, derive a satisfaction that the thousands of hours I’ve give this blog over the years has had some positive effect.
Yeah,
Robert had me pegged perfectly.
It’s odd – I see Robert’s (and most Democrat’s) POV almost exactly how Robert describes his view of Libertarians.
It seems to me that most Democrats don’t think you can depend on your fellow man for help when you’re down, so it’s up to the government to “force charity” (oxymoron?) to help the little guy when he’s down.
Every Libertarian I’ve met is a big believer in the efforts of private charity and helping, both with money and time.
Shalom Bob,
We know what a democracy looks like, we know what a autocracy looks like, we even know what a republic looks like, but I’ve been struggling this morning to think of an example of a libertarocracy in History.
The closest I’ve been able to come is Dickensian England, but even that is seriously twisted by Social Darwinism.
Can you think of a nation or society in History that was governed by libertarian principles?
B’shalom,
Jeff