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To: f.Christian
Where does libertarianism demand moral responsibility?

I'll give it a shot.
Libertarianism demands that individuals take the full consequences of their actions and decisions, while at the same time stating that individuals can make any decision or action that does not directly harm another.

These consequences include death by overdose, starving, or accident in the case of drug use.
Promiscuous sex results in disease or death or pregnancy which lower the quality of life.
Committing crimes and denying others the rights to live in liberty results in imprisonment or death by the defender (victim with a gun).

Our current society provides all sorts of ways that other people must shoulder the consequences of an individual's immorality. This is not done directly, but through a taxing system that punishes good decisions and supports poor decisions.
Remove that system of support for bad (immoral) decisions, and people die due to their immorality. This only happens for a short time though, as people see the consequences are to be borne by the individual, not by society.
The general level of morality in society rises because of the survival factor. Immoral behavior leads to bad or deadly consequences. Moral behavior leads to a good life.

Remove the safety net, as libertarians promote.
After this, increased individual liberty does not lead to immorality because such behavior has undesirable consequences.

25 posted on 05/17/2002 6:49:28 AM PDT by MrB
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To: MrB
"Man's heart is prone to evil because justice(results) is not executed readily."

We are all keepers-defenders of the bias(ego)...vs reality(honesty)!

Good News For The Day

‘Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary, and lose heart. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.’ (Hebrews 12:3+4)

"Have you observed that when someone has a reputation for being 'good', that person is subjected to a more rigorous public scrutiny. When a well-known cheat is caught out at his old tricks, not much is made of it; no better was expected. But of a civic leader is booked for driving under the influence, or if a clergyman is discovered to be having an affair, the matter is loudly noised abroad."

"There are those in the media, who make it their business to sniff out, and expose the indiscretions of anyone who normally enjoys a high degree of respect. The longer any individual is able to stand against the general human weakness; set new standards of conduct; refuse to be seduced by the manifold rewards of giving in to the mediocre mainstream, the greater is the build-up of pressure for that person to fail."

"Evil is offended by good. This was certainly so with Christ. His detractors eventually brought violence to bear against him. In Pilgrim's progress, one of the jurymen in the courtroom is... Mr. Live---Loose. He condemns Faithful, and wants to put him to death because, "He would always be condemning my way."

"To be the exceptional person that Jesus was, meant for him the enduring of a great deal more than I have ever endured by way of temptation. He felt the tuggings and buffetings of evil more than others because he never gave in to them. His victory over sin was magnificent; it was grand; it was unique-and by it, he championed and lifted the rest of us. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.?

26 posted on 05/17/2002 1:34:16 PM PDT by f.Christian
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