> Okay, thought experiment:
>
> We get rid of all coercive institutions, both government and corporations.
> Then we see what social structures turn up. You say the natural
> relationship between humans is trade. I say it's cooperation. I
> think our ability to cooperate was vital to our evolutionary
> success.
IAN: The flaw in your experiment is the baseless assumption
that cooperation is the antithesis of trade. The error is quite
clear to see: "cooperation" implies consent. Consent implies
the freedom to say no. Therefore, I will "cooperate," or
say "yes," when I find the terms to be suitable = trade.
> Only when a small minority obtain power through generally nasty means, can
> they tell everybody else that these are the rules they must follow.
IAN: And how else are they going to tell people to give up
the wealth they have in excess of their neighbors if not by
gaining such power to compel such surrender to the collective?
> Why do you equate the desire for a good life for all with central
> planning. I hate and fear government just as much as you do. But I also
> hate and fear the business interests which lie to me with their
> advertising and poison my water with their pollution. Uggh, there must be
> a better way than unrestrained capitalism.
IAN: But why should they keep all the pollution to themselves? They're
spreading it around. It's a collectivist duty to take on your share.
It's your petty bourgeois notions of private property that cause you
to entertain such bourgeois notions as "pollution."
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IAN GODDARD <igoddard@erols.com> Q U E S T I O N A U T H O R I T Y
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