[MD] Down the road of mediocrity

[pholden at davtv.com]

Quoting Arlo Bensinger <ajb102 at psu.edu>:

> [Arlo]
> Manufacture, production and distribution are social level activities. 
> Calculus, chaos theory and quantum physics are intellectual patterns. 
> But I'm still trying to figure out how we tell who is more moral, or 
> better, than someone else? You've suggested (1) criminality and...

So the manufacture, production and distribution of goods and services can
be done by retards, and you have to be employed by a nonprofit organization
to be considered an intellectual? Puleeze.  

> [Platt]
> Fighting for dynamic freedom. I don't why it is so hard for many here 
> to understand and accept that in the MOQ freedom the highest value.
> 
> [Arlo]
> My question is, is a soldier a better person than a firefighter? If 
> so, why? I'll wait til you answer this because it leads to the only 
> other suggestion you've made, that putting oneself in harms way for 
> the greater good makes one a better person than someone who does not.

A soldier not only fights for his family's freedom but for his own. I don't
know where you get this "greater good" from.

> [Platt]
> No, I don't mean that. What has medical assistance got to do with who 
> is morally superior?
> 
> [Arlo]
> Well, you were the one who drifted from who should and who should not 
> get medical treatment by asking whether or not I think some people 
> are better. I assume this implies that the "better" people are the 
> ones who should get medical assistance, while the "valueless" do not.
> 
> But my point continues to be this, if we let the economic market 
> determine who does and who does not receive medical care, then we are 
> tying the value of human life to that person's ability to generate wealth.

To a person's ability to pay for services rendered, yes. Without wealth there
would be no doctors, no medicines, no life saving equipment. If you want to 
be treated by a tribal medicine man, be my guest.

> [Platt]
> Freedom means you can support all the poor who make you feel good 
> supporting. It doesn't mean you have the right to put a gun to your 
> neighbor's head and force him to pay for your cold medicine.
> 
> [Arlo]
> You claim rings hollow, since you have no problem whatsoever using 
> that "gun" to force me to do other things. Besides, the "gun to your 
> head" rhetoric is a bit stale.

Stale? Most people don't even realize that's the only thing that gives
government its power.

> Paying into our great infrastructure 
> benefits everyone, from libraries to a social safety net. Its a honor 
> to be part of this system, and to pay my membership dues. I hope I 
> never need it, but I've seen bad things happen to good people, and I 
> have no reason to think that I, or anyone else, is special. Not to 
> mention that we all pay, even with "insurance", because if you have 
> used more insurance money than you've paid in, that extra difference 
> comes from them raising MY premiums and MY deductibles.

Insurance is a voluntary association of people for mutual protection. There's
nothing voluntary about paying taxes to support wasteful government programs and
fat bureaucrats. 

 


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