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To: jackbob
You own yourself

This may be libertarian, but what does it mean? What does it mean to own your own body and mind? If it means anything, it means that we are responsible for ourselves. If it means that we can do with ourselves as we wish, I would reconsider. However much we may desire freedom from the constraint as in "no external power has the right to force you into the service of "society" or "mankind" or any other individual or group for any purpose, however noble" we should remember that first of all, the only way we reach maturity is to begin in life under the contraint of our parents, and if we mature, we are resposible enough to place those constraints on ourselves, apart from the constraint of others. In short, ourselves belong to the strictures of human life. There is no planet of pure freedom.

Others are not obligated to feed you, clothe you, or provide you with health care.

And then again, of course we are obligated to each other. Perhaps not under a political law, but certainly under a moral law, freely chosen. Again, parents are obligated. And the highest moral law is to love your enemy.

114 posted on 12/15/2001 5:11:21 PM PST by cornelis
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To: cornelis
A very wonderful reply, consistent with all libertarian principles. Its nice to hear from a libertarian who understands the essence of what it means to be a good libertarian. I agree with you raising issue to the precise words used by Nolan. He could have worded those lines better. Then again, Mr nolan might not be a nice considerate person. Though I think he is, and just used a poor choice of words. In either case, Nolan was right on, and so are you. We libertarians can learn a lot from each other. I hope to see more of you refined tuning of our choic of wording in the future.
144 posted on 12/15/2001 7:56:22 PM PST by jackbob
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