Thread: a quick thought
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Old 07-10-2007, 04:44 PM
2OuterJitsu 2OuterJitsu is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 121
Default Re: a quick thought

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ACists, however, claim that they would not force any set of beliefs onto unwilling people. I'm just trying to point out that AC society would require the same coercive acceptance of property rights that statism does.

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ACists are always saying, "If I don't believe in your morality, you have no right to force it upon me." I'm just saying that AC itself forces a morality upon everyone living under it, and it is a morality that adopts a set of axioms that generate property rights and exclude the possibility of any so-called "positive" rights.

The person who doesn't accept the legitimacy of property rights is just an example of a person involuntarily coerced under AC, just as the person who doesn't accept the legitimacy of the state is involuntarily coerced by the state.

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Well sure, if I don't believe in property rights, then I can't keep you from occupying my house if I leave it. A person with such beliefs probably would not own a house. But I don't see how any of this speaks to whether this person is coerced into submitting to property rights in AC society.

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It’s not a question of belief. It’s a question of behavior. What an ACist believes is not equal and opposite to what a Statist believes. A Statist believes that his/her beliefs entitle him/her to control/coerce me. If the arguments were:

Statist: I don’t believe in owning guns. Therefore I don’t own a gun
ACist: I believe in owning guns. Therefore I own a gun

Statist: I don’t believe land can be owned. Therefore, I don’t own any land.
ACist: I believe land can be owned. Therefore, I own land.


They would be equal and opposite (morally). However:

Statist: I don’t believe in owning guns. Therefore you can’t own a gun
ACist: I believe in owning guns. Therefore I own a gun

Statist: I don’t believe land can be owned. Therefore, you can’t own any land.
ACist: I believe land can be owned. Therefore, I own land.


Is the argument, they are not equal at all. The Statist believes that his beliefs entitle him to restrict my behavior. ACland has room for everyone, Stateland however does not.

(You are also making an additional leap that trespassing entitles the land owner to assault you. I don’t think ACist would agree (I don’t)).
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