Friday, June 11, 2010

Right to swing your colon

Well, your cow's colon...

I don't worry about the gentle wafting odor of cow shit teasing the scent receptors of my nose, but once your cow's shit starts damaging the commonweal, then you've reached the limit of your freedom and slugged in the nose in a way that matter. You have to clean up, even if you're a walking talking anachronism that romantics who once saw "Witness" fantasize about - just as long as they don't have to give up their cell phones.

The point is that you cannot opt out of society as long as you're interacting with it. All the non-Amish conservatives who plead just to be left alone often want to take what's offered (public roads, schools, criminal justice, a clean environment, common defense, an economy that doesn't crash and burn to the ground every ten years) just as long as they don't have to pay any part of anything they don't use directly.

You can fairly argue about where to draw the line for public actions and the taxes to pay for them. But the radical libertarian position of the likes of Rand Paul is anti-social selfishness, and contrary to Ayn Rand and Gordon Gecko, it doesn't work.

6 comments:

dan said...

I hardly think that's what (most) conservatives mean when they say they want to be left alone anymore than I think liberals truly want the government out of their bedrooms when being attacked there by a theif, a rapist, or an arsonist.

lovable liberal said...

So you're in favor of environmental regulation? You don't trust the sainted free market to solve all externalities (which by definition it can't)?

What kind of conservative are you?

dan said...

Some environmental regulation might be in order. I never said I was a conservative (though I do like to be left alone sometimes). Labels don't suit me.

lovable liberal said...

But you were here to defend conservatives...

dan said...

I'm actually now out patrolling the blogosphere trying to study in detail the lines of argumentation people use in politics. When I found your blog, I noticed what I percieved to be a mischaracterization of the positions of the conservatives I've listened too and thought I would throw in some of my thoughts.

lovable liberal said...

Patrolling the blogosphere? Good luck with that!

You need to clarify your argument.