| badgenome said: I'm pretty sure that most libertarians very explicitly believe that one should pay for what they consume. Of course, we're always told that expecting people to pay for the health care that they consume is wrong and heartless and evil. "It's a right!" and all that garbage. Requiring people to pay for the services they use is certainly not theft; forcing other people to pay for the services that you use is. |
Actually, society working together through government ("by the people, for the people" - something Americans like to say, but apparently don't truly understand) to improve the situation for the least fortunate isn't theft, it's civilisation. And it's not a thankless thing to do, either - more people in better circumstances strengthens the economy, resulting in better quality of life even for the people who are paying higher taxes.
It is a right. But it's a right for a reason. There's a reason why you have a right to health care, but not a right to elective surgery. There's a reason why you have a right to police protection, why you have a right to a basic education, etc. The fact of the matter is, it makes life better for everybody.
Just as a simple example, more poverty and lower education outcomes for the least fortunate creates more crime. Having health care be based on whether you can pay only creates more poverty and more desperation, which drives up crime even further.
Much of it is actually strongly related to Game Theory. For instance, the Prisoners' Dilemma. Look into it, and think about how it might occur in everyday life. Government serves as a way to organise the system in order to get the best result for everybody, instead of the worst. If your government is failing to do that, then it means you need a better government, not a smaller one (as Libertarians are wont to demand).
