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Originally Posted by smooth
It ensures everyone starts out on equal footing.
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This has nothing to do with individual rights.
Two points I'd like to make:
1) I've yet to hear of an idea to ensure an equal start in life that
didn't involve a violation individual rights; usually in the form of property confiscation. You don't guarantee individual rights by violating them.
2) Ignoring the issue of individual rights for a moment...There is no way to ensure that everyone starts out on equal footing. Some people are smarter or more attractive than others. Some people had better parents who did more to encourage the values of hard work and the importance of an education. There are factors that can't be controlled.
Quote:
Originally Posted by smooth
By arguing for inheritance rights, you are supporting a system that people receive possessions as a result of what their parents earned, rather than what they individually earned themselves.
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This does not violate individual rights in any way.
Quote:
Originally Posted by smooth
I'm not the first person to argue that individual rights depend on everyone starting out equally from birth...and it seems like common sense to me that wealth gained by birthright has little to do with the individual's achievements.
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Individual rights and individual achievements are not the same thing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by smooth
It doesn't matter if there is a will or not. You asked what if you believed that individual rights were in your best interest...only by making sure that everyone starts out in the economic race with $0 dollars in his or her pockets does the system secure that one's success will be based on one's own endeavors and achievements rather than those of a wealthy benefactor.
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The presence of a wealthy benefactor does not violate individual rights in any way.