Comments for Foundation for an Ideal State--Part I at http://www.ldsfreemen.com , comment 1 to 1 out of 1 comments http://www.ldsfreemen.com Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:38:37 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.ldsfreemen.com/joel-skousen/foundation-for-an-ideal-state-part-1.html#comment-96 Joel, You have conflicting notions of rights/government. You state (and I agree) that we have a right of self-defense. Does not this right of self-defense cover the entire spectrum from extreme pacifism to hiring a private (defensive only) army? Now of course this right must be self-funded, correct? If I believe in extreme pacifism, then you have no moral authority to A) force me to defend myself or B) force me to defend others (including you). Likewise if I want a private army then I have no moral authority to force you (or others) to pay for my defensive army. Given that we have no moral authority to force others to defend ourselves directly (or to pay for our defense), from whence do we have the authority to form a government and force everyone within its bounds pay for a common defense? Where do you get the authority to force me to pay for government funded police, military, etc.? Who gets to decide how big of a government funded military is appropriate? Who gets to decide how many police or judges per thousand is the correct number? Why should a poor farmer family pay an equal share of the socialized (socialist?) cost of a common defense? Shouldn't those with the most to lose pay the most? The only fair way of solving this problem (determining who pays how much for defense) is to eliminate "public" defense - eliminate government (the monopoly of force within a given boundary) and let each individual family determine how much defense they each need. Perhaps a valley of poor, but highly integrated farmers might decide to hire one sheriff. Perhaps a famous person will hire 3 bodyguards. We don't (and CAN'T) know what is appropriate for each family and attempting to do so is, IMO, prideful. - ed42 Wed, 07 May 2008 18:33:17 +0100