[MD] Value and the Individual

[Platt Holden]

> [Platt]
> Government, a social level institution, is necessary to protect us 
> from the biological forces of social destruction, such as those who 
> steal or destroy people or property.
> 
> [Arlo]
> And, apparently, people who drive loud motorcycles. Or women who 
> choose to wear headscarves.
> 
> Happily, I side with the people who have found that a legitimate role 
> of the government is to regulate pollution, to enforce workplace 
> safety, to curb child labor, and to provide injury and death 
> compensation when at fault.
> 
> And also maintain a department of weights and measures, to print and 
> circulate currency, to maintain a public park system, to provide an 
> infrastructure of roads and waterways, to undertake diplomatic 
> ventures, to provide public transit alternatives, to conduct space 
> research, to provide library and literacy services, and to maintain 
> public airwaves.
> 
> Oh, and also to ensure the education of all it citizens. Or at the 
> least try. Social Darwinism need not apply.
> 
> Can the government over-regulate? Can it become busy-bodies in the 
> lives of the citizens? Absolutely. The government should not be in 
> the business of telling people how loud their motorcycles are allowed 
> to be. Nor should they tell me what I can and can not wear.

Yes we all know you love to ride naked on your motorcycle while disturbing 
the peace. Such a real, upstanding citizen. 

> [Platt]
> Other than that, government force must be held in constant vigilance 
> lest it become not a servant of Dynamic liberty, but as has happened 
> so often in history, it's destroyer.
> 
> [Arlo]
> Tell that to all those "dynamically liberated" people who suffered in 
> factories and mines. Tell that to my grandfather who saw the 
> devastating effects of the Capistocracy first-hand. Tell that to the 
> people in Chicago who could not walk along the riverfront due to the 
> odor of the coagulating blood, carcasses and feces that "Dynamic 
> liberty" dumped there without concern or reservation. Tell that to 
> the miners at Hawk's Nest who were sent knowingly unprotected into 
> silica-rich mines so that the company could save a few buck on 
> equipment. Do you think "Dynamic liberty" was there to console them 
> as the choked to death on their own blood?

Typical liberal exaggerated anecdotal fear-mongering. 

> [Platt]
> The "equation" which predictably Arlo distorts is the nature of 
> government -- handcuffs and guns -- regardless of any justification 
> for interfering in our lives
> 
> [Arlo]
> In a discussion on the unsafe, low quality conditions that prompted 
> the people to demand and enact social regulations, Platt brings up 
> not only the mass murders of Stalin, but also to the terrorist 
> bombings on the Twin Towers.
> 
> Yeah, Arlo distorted that. Right.

No. The discussion is about the nature and proper role of government to 
ensure a Dynamic free market society. Your liberal agenda of social 
regulations is not everyone's although you think anyone who disagrees with 
it is stupid neocon social Darwinian fascist.