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Originally Posted by joshbaumgartner
Of course people will make bad decisions, that is a given when one has free choice. If they don't have the opportunity to make mistakes, then they don't really have freedom. If people are allowed to drive, they will have accidents and people will die. If people are allowed to drink, they will get drunk and cause trouble. If people are alloed both, they will put them together, drink and drive, and kill innocent people.
But if we want a responsible society, we hold those who transgress accountable, but we don't take away rights for everyone. In a responsible society, people have the freedom to dictate the path of their own lives, and face the consequences of their choices.
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This assumes that freedom is something I care about people having. I personally place the general wellbeing of society above some abstract concept of people being "free". Because by continuously trumpetting freedom over accountability and responsibility we weaken those very notions. Also, I prefer to practice preventative medicine-I'd rather someone not be allowed in the first place to do something harmful to society than let them do it and punish them later.
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First, I think folks have already said here that it is "not because Coren is a right wing nut, he's just a nut" (highthief), and right-wing, left-wing, or outer space, he has chosen a very slanted set of 'desired rights' that supposedly are being sought, couching a few controversial but legitimate isseues amongst an array of very extreme ones that most people would consider fringe.
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I addressed highthief's comments above.
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That aside, you are putting up a strawman by asserting that anyone here is criticizing Cohen's social limitations while having no hesitation with economic restrictions. That is an attempt to play on a myth proposed by the right to misrepresent the left's approach to business and commerce. The simple fact is that almost every liberal I know is very concerned about ensuring that every person has the most economic freedom possible. I haven't seen anyone here promote the evisceration of economic rights, and certainly not 'without hesitation' as you proclaim.
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First of all, THATS NOT A STRAWMAN ARGUEMENT! I know alot of people around here are anxious to turn the politics board into a junior debate league, but if you are going to sling those terms around, at least have them correct. If anything, it would be an tu quoque ad hominem (which it isn't, but that would be the closest fallacy pattern). And if you are really that blind to leftist ideology, that is not my problem nor does it address my claims. You would dispute that those on the left generally favor enviromental regulations? Or that they favor progressive tax structures? Or tarrifs? What about social welfare programs, do leftists now not support those? Because all of the above attemt to limit the economic freedoms of certain individuals (sometimes in favor of granting more economic freedom to other individuals). If you weren't so busy on your high horse defending what you saw as an attack on leftist ideas and actually attempted to answer my question, you might have saw later that I wasn't saying that any of those things are inherently bad, and that I also am in favor of a great many of those. Hopefully someone later more interested in discussion and less in scoring points in a debate will try to answer my question and not get defensive.