Conversation

I like arguing with libertarians. The smart ones force you to sharpen your positions on specific policies, and I approve of their resistance to emotion. But I could do without the evangelism--"what if I told you taxation is theft?--that assumes you've never met a 14-year-old boy

637

You’re unable to view this Tweet because this account owner limits who can view their Tweets. Learn more

Replying to

"taxation is theft"

You’re unable to view this Tweet because this account owner limits who can view their Tweets. Learn more

Replying to

all the corollaries of it. We don't "possess" our property as some natural right. We borrow it from the commonwealth, at its sufferance, and should be allowed to use it only in so far as its use conduces to a generally benevolent society.

Aella

@Aella_Girl

Replying to

@AliceFromQueens

Lol this view is like, physically horrifying to me. I got nausea reading it. I disagree in like every possible way my values orient me to humanity and the world.

5:51 PM · Apr 25, 2021

Replying to

well, not surprisingly, we differ in regard to private property. But to me this isn't simply normative. It's a rough description of the way our society is arranged, though the ppl society most rewards have an interest in not acknowledging their debt

Show replies

Replying to

and

I share your concern that other people appear all too happy to take what is yours. My views have changed in large part because without a Leviathan (see Hobbes), without society, we are nothing. We would not live in some Ayn Rand wonderworld. We would live in lawless chaos.

i am going to annihilate you

Replying to

and

good arg.

Replying to

and

As a former libertarian who now holds these views, I'll note that being able to hold both of these perspectives in one head and switching between them is a little bit like having a good stereogram puzzle in front of you.

This Tweet was deleted by the Tweet author. Learn more

Alice

@AliceFromQueens

Apr 26, 2021

Not true

Worst person you know

Replying to

and

It's almost as if moral intuitions are not universal

Replying to

and

You can keep your property up until the starving masses come with pitchforks - has a nicer ring to it. Gotta pay for societies upkeep or society won't be there for you. Living in a private police state would be less optimal.