A Letter to Socialists, By Gustave de Molinari (Part 1)

[rabidus666]

He makes some pretty big assumptions about socialists. We don't reject liberty. What we reject is the ability to exploit the labor of others to profit unequally. We don't see liberty in laissez-faire capitalism; we see the formation of a power vacuum and the trading of one set of exploitative, coercive masters for another. Until the means of product are truly collectivized and every man granted equal opportunity to pursue his humanity to its fullest extent, there can never be true liberty.

[edwinorc]

Thank you for this.

[fringeelements]

I disagree. I don't think "socialists" value abundance or justice. They value equality. If they valued abundance, they would actually look at the world and see what produces abundance. Instead they just pile of confirmation bias, go simple and broad when it helps them "look at europe's healthcare system, therefore free market bad", or demand specifics when something superficially contradicts their beliefs. Equality is the end goal and only goal. "Justice" is just a cover.

[StatelessLiberty]

@fringeelements Perhaps you're right, if you take your typical socialist to be like Vogter, TheAmazingAtheist or C0ct0pus. Even Molinari who wrote this essay later acknowledged that he was being naive (see quote in description).

[SecularNumanist]

Holy crap, Dr Campbell featured this video!

[StatelessLiberty]

@SecularNumanist You're right!! thank you for pointing it out!