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The principles that rule this blog

Principles that will govern my thoughts as I express them here (from my opening statement):


  • Freedom of the individual should be as total as possible, limited only by the fact that nobody should be free to cause physical injury to another, or to deprive another person of his freedoms.
  • Government is necessary primarily to provide those services that private enterprise won't, or won't at a price that people can afford.
  • No person has a right to have his own beliefs on religious, moral, political, or other controversial issues imposed on others who do not share those beliefs.

I believe that Abraham Lincoln expressed it very well:

“The legitimate object of government is to do for a community of people whatever they need to have done, but cannot do, at all, or cannot
so well do, for themselves — in their separate, individual capacities.”


Comments will be invited, and I will attempt to reply to any comments that are offered in a serious and non-abusive manner. However, I will not tolerate abusive or profane language (my reasoning is that this is my blog, and so I can control it; I wouldn't interfere with your using such language on your own!)

If anyone finds an opinion that I express to be contrary to my principles, they are welcome to point this out. I hope that I can make a rational case for my comments. Because, in fact, one label I'll happily accept is rationalist.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Change!

All the Democrats (and it would seem Mitt Romney among the Republicans, as well) seem to be portraying themselves as the candidate to bring change to this country. But is this a good thing?


First, is there so much wrong with this country that needs to be changed? I'm pretty happy with the situation as it is. I would be less likely to vote for a candidate that will change things than for one who will preserve things the way they are. But, of course, that is what conservatism is all about, and I'm rather conservative in many ways.


And second, who's to say that a change will be for the better? A lot of ways that we could change would be major disasters. And many would at least make things somewhat worse. I'm sure that the advent of Hitler in Germany, Stalin in Russia, and Pol Pot in Cambodia brought many changes, but most Germans, Russians, and Cambodians were worse off with those changes than they had been before.
So what's so great about change?

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