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The bad moral value of force

Milton Friedman said: “The bad moral value of force triumphs over good intentions.”

Is it morally right for the state to take from people that which they do not wish to give? Would the political left admit they try to fight evil with evil?

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SunshineGirl · 36-40, F
Jean-Jacques Rousseau contends that there is a social contract between individual and state. The state respects the freedom of the individual as far as possible, the individual subordinates her wants to the collective good of society. The resultant collective is 'sovereign' and its requirements supersede those of any other authority or individual. This is the primary goal of a civilised society.

"Man is born free, yet everywhere he is in chains"

For a conservative view on the legitimacy of a 'coercive' state, see Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan.
emiliya · 22-25, F
@SunshineGirl God is the greatest philosopher. Nietzsche was the second greatest philosopher. Rousseau thought we are born free when we aren't, and Hobbes believed that we need to be controlled by the state, so we do not descend into war and chaos. He does seem to assume the worst in people. Hobbes was apparently afraid of being burned at the stake for heresy. The last person in England to be burned for heresy was in 1612, and Hobbes harbored these thoughts from 1666 onwards. How likely is it that he would have been burned?

War is imposing your will on others when they have not asked for it. It is assuming evil intentions and not giving us the freedom to make our own decisions, which concern our own lives and our own families.

Rousseau is a writer of fiction. He said good things about raising children, but he put all five of his children in an orphanage. They were deprived of their mother breastfeeding them and were not shielded from negative influences. He said those things, yet did that. Their chances of survival in an orphanage in infancy were no more than 45 percent.
SunshineGirl · 36-40, F
@emiliya Unlikely, although he did have some contact with Galileo. His social contract theory was developed in response to a devastating war. His patron was on the losing side and this may have placed him in danger until the restoration of the monarchy in 1660.

Rouuseau used fictional narrative to express his ideas, as did many enlightenment philosophers. He differed from Hobbes in believing that man in a state of nature was a "noble savage" corrupted only by the ownership of property and division of labour which leads to inequality and oppression. His philosophy is overwhelmingly positive and makes no mention of evil.

The social contract guarantees that the individual will not be subordinated to the will of others. Sovereignty is vested in the general will of the people, which ensures that individuals are collectively authors of the law. This is the moral foundation of a improved system of government . . in contrast to Hobbes who envisages a benign dictatorship to save individuals from original sin and their inherently flawed and violent natures.
Nobody in their right mind would think Milton Friedman is left wing.
Reason10 · 70-79, M
@emiliya At the time Friedman called himself a liberal, the term meant FREE MARKET LAISSEZ FAIRE CAPITALISM.
Liberalism took the Nazi turn in the early Sixties due to the Port Huron Statement.
@Reason10 It has been applied in different ways for centuries. The Canadian Liberal party was based on what is now called Libertarian ideas in the 1800s.

One thing that has never had anything to do with the term is nazism.
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SatanBurger · 36-40, FVIP
Seems rather vague. You say the left fights evil with evil, care to elaborate?
SatanBurger · 36-40, FVIP
@emiliya Your refusal to understand or learn about anything isn't on anyone else.
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The left political position is anti war and anti violence.
Reason10 · 70-79, M
@Roundandroundwego
The left political position is anti war and anti violence.

WRONG.

The LEFT WING Adolf Biden regime has brought WAR to the world and has brought this planet closer than ever before to WWIII.
As far as anti violence?
This is YOUR goose stepping left wing side of the aisle.

@Reason10 Pictures from a Trump rally.
@Reason10 Oh and vandalism is not violence.

But we know right wingers love corporate power.

 
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