|
 Tao
Village Genius
Registered: 09/19/03
Posts: 7,935
Loc: San Diego
Last seen: 7 years, 11 months
|
 Libertarians fighting disease 
#3074737 - 08/31/04 04:10 PM (18 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
I was thinking about the SARS outbreak last year and was wondering how a libertarian government would have responded. Would society respond using a private corporation, a charity or the government to perform the necessary quarantine actions?
You can probably guess the follow-up question so I'll just put it out there:
If it were the government who would act, why shouldnt the government work in other ways to protect the society from viruses and diseases? Why should the goverment only work to fight off foreign humans and not foreign agents (shameless pun) --in the form of say, federal grants towards vaccination and other preventative research?
|
 KingOftheThing
the cool fool
Registered: 11/17/02
Posts: 27,397
Loc: USA
|
Re: Libertarians fighting disease [Re: Tao]
#3074853 - 08/31/04 04:42 PM (18 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
or a disease much worse than SARS
|
z@z.com
Libertarian
Registered: 10/13/02
Posts: 2,876
Loc: ATL
|
Re: Libertarians fighting disease [Re: Tao]
#3074855 - 08/31/04 04:43 PM (18 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
I can't respond in detail now, but walking around in public with a dangerous communicable disease is initiating force on others.
--------------------
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." - C.S. Lewis
"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniencies attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it." - Thomas Jefferson
|
Baby_Hitler
Errorist
Registered: 03/06/02
Posts: 27,292
Loc: To the limit!
Last seen: 1 hour, 32 minutes
|
Re: Libertarians fighting disease [Re: z@z.com]
#3074895 - 08/31/04 04:55 PM (18 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
In a libertarian society it would be illegal to be sick, and people with dangerous diseases would legaly have to incinerate themselves or face hefty fines.
--------------------
(•_•)
<) )~ ANTIFA
/ \
\(•_•)
( (> SUPER
/ \
(•_•)
<) )> SOLDIERS
/ \
|
KingOftheThing
the cool fool
Registered: 11/17/02
Posts: 27,397
Loc: USA
|
Re: Libertarians fighting disease [Re: Baby_Hitler]
#3074906 - 08/31/04 04:59 PM (18 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
Baby_Hitler said:
In a libertarian society it would be illegal to be sick, and people with dangerous diseases would legaly have to incinerate themselves or face hefty fines.
|
Viveka
refutation bias
Registered: 10/21/02
Posts: 4,061
Last seen: 6 years, 7 months
|
Re: Libertarians fighting disease [Re: Tao]
#3075621 - 08/31/04 09:07 PM (18 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
Come on, the SARS outbreak? Monkey pox? HAHAHAHHAA
In all seriousness, if there were ever a disease outbreak where the medical community called for a quarantine on a large scale, would you really be that keen on the idea of of the Fed coming in and coercing people into camps and shit? I'd prefer a world where there were no way to provision that, but even within a Libertarian scenario that would be possible since there would still be a military present.
Vaccines are a whole different issue. A tricky question would be:
If an individual required a vaccine to live, but they somehow lacked the means to obtain it, would not providing them with it deprive them of a fundamental liberty? A vaccine is a preventative measure against disease. Not obtaining one doesn't necesarilly mean you will have the disease. It may raise your chances of not being able to combat it if you ever catch it. But then again, there are many documented cases of proof of a causal relationship between being vaccinated and acquiring diseases other than the one's you've been vaccinated against. In other words, vaccinations themselves can cause disease.
In considering the abovementioned question, I am personally guided by my feelings that
a) No one should expect to be granted anything, they should plan to secure it for themselves.
B) Everything should be regarded as a privilege. Nothing is guaranteed in this life except its end.
c. Liberty comes with a price. Those with a weak stomach may find themselves unable to accept one of the social realities that Libertarianism is based on -- Shit happens and you shouldn't expect the comfort of a magic safety net for everything. It is better to go without certain privileges if securing them requires the use of force, the loss of liberties, you know the deal.
That being said, I think the ideal sscenario would be one where the private sector developed vaccines and such. The problem is that you can't necesarilly trust a company to not, say, charge too much for a vaccination. Of course, ideally, people wouldn't rip each other off and the smart choices of consumers would dictate fair prices but unfortunately the same greed that fuels capitalism can also taint human relations.
The answer of how to implement any form of government is not simple, but I think that Libertarianism is a reaction against a federal government that is way out of check and I think it's the greatest push in the right direction as far as current US politics is concerned.
Edited by EvilEye? (08/31/04 09:20 PM)
|
|
Threaded
Previous
Index
Next
Shop: Red Vein Kratom
Edit 
Reply 
DigitalDuality
silversoul7
Evolving
1 2 3 all )
unbeliever
Autonomous
