The conditions that alowed Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Edison to rise to greatness have been legislated away- and for the better, since all three were ruthless scoundrels out for their own interests only.
This seems like a really odd thing to hear an avowed Libertarian say. The idea that no one has the inherent right to raise themselves up by treading on the backs of others, and more to the point, that this should be controlled by legislation (since it damn sure will never be controlled by the Sacred Free Market!), is one of the basic ideals of liberalism. Better not let your compatriots hear you, or they might make you turn in your party card. :)
A hundred years ago, you could be put in prison for openly declaring your atheism or paganism, for discussing birth control, or for having sex out of wedlock; and despite the efforts of people like George W. Bush, not only are all three of these things perfectly legal now, but they are in no danger of ever being made illegal again.
I wish I shared your confidence. Right now, it seems very likely that while birth control* may not be made illegal de jure, it may very well become de facto unavailable in large swaths of the country; and if that happens, then it might as well be illegal for all the difference it makes.
Furthermore, the populace as a whole is getting mighty restive about the War On Some Drugs, and even the War On Terrorism. A new banner is going to be needed under which to wage the war against civil rights, and what better one than a War On Immorality? This could very easily be broadened to become a war on non-Christian Americans; the groundwork for it has already been laid, with the number of people who sincerely believe that "morality" and "Christianity" are synonymous terms, and that you can't have the former without the latter.
* I initially typed that as "bitch control"... which is a tellingly Freudian slip, and not a bad description for the anti-BC movement!
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The conditions that alowed Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Edison to rise to greatness have been legislated away- and for the better, since all three were ruthless scoundrels out for their own interests only.
This seems like a really odd thing to hear an avowed Libertarian say. The idea that no one has the inherent right to raise themselves up by treading on the backs of others, and more to the point, that this should be controlled by legislation (since it damn sure will never be controlled by the Sacred Free Market!), is one of the basic ideals of liberalism. Better not let your compatriots hear you, or they might make you turn in your party card. :)
A hundred years ago, you could be put in prison for openly declaring your atheism or paganism, for discussing birth control, or for having sex out of wedlock; and despite the efforts of people like George W. Bush, not only are all three of these things perfectly legal now, but they are in no danger of ever being made illegal again.
I wish I shared your confidence. Right now, it seems very likely that while birth control* may not be made illegal de jure, it may very well become de facto unavailable in large swaths of the country; and if that happens, then it might as well be illegal for all the difference it makes.
Furthermore, the populace as a whole is getting mighty restive about the War On Some Drugs, and even the War On Terrorism. A new banner is going to be needed under which to wage the war against civil rights, and what better one than a War On Immorality? This could very easily be broadened to become a war on non-Christian Americans; the groundwork for it has already been laid, with the number of people who sincerely believe that "morality" and "Christianity" are synonymous terms, and that you can't have the former without the latter.
* I initially typed that as "bitch control"... which is a tellingly Freudian slip, and not a bad description for the anti-BC movement!