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From: neal@denelcor.UUCP (Neal Weidenhofer)
Newsgroups: net.philosophy
Subject: Re: Were not drifting; were being tugged
Message-ID: <532@denelcor.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 19-Aug-84 21:41:36 EDT
Article-I.D.: denelcor.532
Posted: Sun Aug 19 21:41:36 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 22-Aug-84 00:59:57 EDT
References: <39@ism780b.UUCP>
Organization: Denelcor, Aurora, CO
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>Well, of course Laura *did* speak of ice cream scoopers improving themselves
>and becoming computer programmers....

	That seems to me to be a question to be decided by the individual
who's faced with the choice.  If an ice cream scooper thought he could
have a better life as a computer programmer, then he might want to do
something about it.  If not, not.  No Libertarian of my acquaintance would
object either way.

>				  ...  And I consider the fallback to the notion
>of supply and demand given that we were discussing human worth to indicate the
>sort of fundamental philosophical blindness that must be overcome before we
>can intelligently discuss political or social philosophy.

	Run out of rational (sounding) arguments?  Ta-ta-da-ta-da Ad
Hominem to the rescue.

>I tend to think better of artists and poets and their contributions to
>society than I do of corporate executives.  I would like to live in a
>society where the former were relatively more rewarded than in our society.
>I would like to live in a society in which caring about the old and disabled
>was more honorable and desirable than increasing the yearly profit of your
>employer.

	And I would like to live in a society in which you were free to
reward either group as you saw fit WITH YOUR RESOURCES; and I were free to
do likewise with mine.

>Of course I can't insist that you not be a selfish asshole, I can only
>dislike you for it, as I said.

	What do you mean you "can't insist"?  This whole discussion is
about money and other resources taken from me at gunpoint (i.e., by the
government).  If you have a stronger notion of insistence than that, I'd
like to hear about it.

>I never insisted that anyone give up what they truly earned.
>But I do insist that most people who think they truly earned what they
>have are stupid and blind, because they think in absolute and not
>relative terms.  There are people who have worked much harder than you
>but have much less, and there are people who have not worked as hard
>as you but have far more.

	Who are you to judge what I have "truly earned"?
	
	I totally reject the Marxist philosophy that the amount of labor
that goes into a product determines its worth.  I hold that the worth or
value of a product is whatever someone else is willing to give up to get
it -- the "free-market" value.

>-- Jim Balter (ima!jim)

			Regards,
				Neal Weidenhofer
"Nothin' ain't worth nothin'	Denelcor, Inc.
	but it's free"		!denelcor!neal