Comments on Neural Minefield: Legislating Morality

I would argue that the very purpose of government ...

2008-04-23T09:59:00.000-04:00

I would argue that the very purpose of government is in part to oppress the citizenry, effectively forcing them into labor towards some ultimate goal, for good or ill. A serious question in this case is how are the best interests of the nation served by this potential law? I'm thinking it has to do with this line of thinking:

The Garbage Generation

If this line of thinking is correct, then this may have some substance to it. This is a very big IF. Nonetheless, works like the above reflect pretty strongly what a large number of social conservatives believe with regards to social change and free market economics.

Yeah. We differ there. I believe there is inhere...

2008-04-22T13:28:00.000-04:00

Yeah. We differ there. I believe there is inherent good in personal liberty, and that even well-meaning attempts to legislate morality will inevitably lead to an oppressed citizenry. This thing is beyond all doubt, though. This is just plain stupid and awful.

As you may remember, I'm willing to entertain any ...

2008-04-22T11:49:00.000-04:00

As you may remember, I'm willing to entertain any society or culture's attempts to shape or alter who and what they are by nearly any means as long as they are willing to accept the consequences. A government typically has dispute resolution as its primary purpose, hence laws and courts, therefore it is entirely arbitrary what disputes are resolved by government intervention. Granted there are addtional costs: economic costs, social costs, and costs in terms of available liberty when this does happen, as long as people are willing to accept this, there isn't a problem.

I'm a little different I suppose in that I value liberty differently than you- I'm of the opinion that almost no one really has any to begin with, so loss of it does not concern me overmuch. I personally believe that a society can basically reshape itself any which way it wants provided it is willing to deal with the result. I suppose the only problem with a situation like what you describe in your original post is that people don't fully appreciate what the potential side effects may be.