...you might just as well herd all the kids into state-run boarding
schools where they will, no doubt, be much safer...
<laughing>Good one Bob.</laughing>
On 5/31/2010 6:13 AM, Bob W wrote:
[...]
in that case you're going to have to legislate to remove all possible
self-imposed risk from the world. You're going to have to make smoking
illegal, you're going to have to make sunbathing for longer than 30
minutes a day illegal, crossing the road while the green man is
flashing, walking the streets without wearing a helmet,...
B
Bob, it is not black/white scenario like you seem to be trying to
paint it. I am thinking that "self-imposed" is the keyword here. If a
state can protect you from somebody *else's* stupidity (because,
pardon my bluntness, you're not omniscient or omnipotent) and do so
for $10 per car or $10 per motorcycle, they might as well go on and
do it.
yes, sure, but that's changing the terms of the discussion. So far the
discussion has been about whether the state has a right to force the
individual to something 'for his own good'. I say it doesn't.
Now, the classic starting point for liberalism is that you are free to
do whatever you want, provided you don't infringe the right of other
people to do the same. The state is an institution that we have
established to guarantee that principle. Therefore it does have to try
and protect me from other people's stupidity in as much as that
stupidity might prevent me from going about my lawful business. That's
why we enforce red traffic lights, and have gun laws and such like. At
the same time, it doesn't absolve me from the responsibility to look
after myself.
Children are also protected by the state but they are in a special
position because unlike normal adults they are not fully autonomous
members of society yet. They are under the stewardship of their
parents and their parents have the first responsibility for their
well-being. The parents have to make the minute-by-minute decisions
about what is best for the child, including whether or not it is safe
to leave them in the back of a car. Once you start leaving that sort
of decision to other people, particularly the state, you might just as
well herd all the kids into state-run boarding schools where they
will, no doubt, be much safer...
Bob
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