Has the US gone communist yet? It's hard to tell.

[Copernicus]

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Let me repeat: I'm not an ACist. I have never argues that the market will allocate resources to "society's maximum advantage" (which is a normative statement anyway and therefore meaningless here, we're simply talking about the logic behind believing only federal research dollars can result in innovation)

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I am an "ACist" and I don't argue that the market will allocate resources to society's maximum advantage, either. It very well may turn out that way, and market distribution probably comes closer to maximum advantage than any forced distribution (if it's advantageous, why does it need to be forced?), but efficiency is not my motivation. Morality is.

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All federal spending represents a loss of freedom, therefore I oppose it in most cases.

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You favor a loss of freedom in some cases?

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EDIT: let me clarify one thing. Arguing over 'maximum advantage to society' is a useless endeavor because it is a normative statement. Everyone has a different idea of what that means. This is the crux of the problem when you start ipmlementing public policy with "maximum advantage to society" in mind. Mao and Stalin also had that goal in mind do you see?


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Yes! You realize that the argument from efficiency is essentially pointless, and that the argument from morality is much, much more important. Once you realize this, you are, for practical purposes, an ACist. You're just in denial. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

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morality is subjective and cant be the basis for allocating anything