Fundamental Questions

I started out with this morning wanting to post a quick status to my FB wall. “….wonders why liberals won't answer the question. What is the purpose of government?” This lead to me to contemplate other questions liberals avoid, and how they actually respond to fundamental questions.

Although asked several times over the past year or so, both on line and in person, these questions are like poison to a liberal: Do you believe that it is moral and just for one person to be forcibly used to serve the purposes of another? And, if that person does not peaceably submit to being so used, do you believe that there should be the initiation of some kind of force against him? They are simple yes or no questions but the answers have powerful implications. Liberals are evasive usually say that it all depends.

Liberals also don't want to answer basic questions of morality.

Do individuals have private property rights? Does an individual own himself/herself or does the government own some portion of that individual? More simply, is there such a thing as self-ownership? If we accept the idea of self ownership the determining acts as moral or immoral is simple. Rape, murder, assault are all immoral because they violate my private property rights, just as vandalism or theft of my stuff violates my property rights.

So why won't liberals answer morality questions, or fundamental questions about liberty, the government, or the constitution? Most often the liberal replies with an ad hominid attack, tries to deflect to another subject, or sarcastic comment trying to dismiss discussion of fundamentals.

I’d asked lots of other questions that liberals deflect or won’t answer like: Are rights unalienable and natural, or are they gifts from government? Do groups have rights that supersede individual’s rights? If so, then what is the basis of those rights and what part of the constitution instructs the government to make no laws violating those rights? and Do you have a right to force somebody else to fund a charity which you believe and are passionate about?

Questions like these are not complicated; answers can and should be short and direct. I believe liberals do not like to answer these kinds of questions because it leads to voicing ideas that are contradictory to what they would like to have others believe.

I’ll leave you with some fundamental questions of moral and political beliefs that are good for discussion, but I believe liberals will avoid (and most right wing conservatives):

What is the purpose of government?

Does the government have limited or unlimited powers? and where does it get those powers?

Is there such a thing as self-ownership?

Do individuals have private property rights?

So long as the use of your private property doesn’t infringe on the rights of another, should you be able do with your private property as you see fit?

Do you believe that it is moral and just for one person to be forcibly used to serve the purposes of another? And, if that person does not peaceably submit to being so used, do you believe that there should be the initiation of some kind of force against him?

Where do rights come from?

Do groups have rights that supersede individual’s rights? If so, then what is the basis of those rights and what part of the constitution instructs the government to make no laws violating those rights?

Where do rights end?

Does society have rights? If so what are society’s rights, and what part of the constitution instructs the government to make no laws violating those rights?

Do you have a right to force somebody else to fund a charity which you believe and are passionate about?

Do you have a right to self defense?