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Showing content with the highest reputation on 12/03/14 in all areas

  1. If cops started running away from confrontational criminals, that would be just about the end of civilization. And it would encourage more criminals to attack cops instead of complying with their orders. No, what he did was exactly what he should've done. He drew his weapon, and instructed the violent criminal to stop. 999 out of 1000 violent criminals would at that point have done exactly that, or at least tried to run away instead of continuing their assault. This one didn't. So he died. I'm perfectly comfortable with that, as should everyone expecting police protection be. His death is the only thing that will allow the next 999 officers to stop a violent attacker by drawing their gun, rather than firing it. If that threat was rendered meaningless by your unreasonable expectation that cops should never rely on their weapon to stop violent attackers, 1000 out of 1000 incidents like this one would end in violence, instead of 1 out of 1000. And no one in their right mind would volunteer to ever wear a Police uniform again, because they'd be in a fight for their lives every other day.
    1 point
  2. where to start? This proposition seems so insulting. Economists in the preceding six years have been quarter after quarter unexpectedly surprised or taken aback by the results of the previous quarter. These same economists made predictions or assessments for the next quarter and again unexpectedly surprised to be off the mark where reality fell short of their attempts to talk up dysfunctional policies.This fellow is no different. His making a comparison between a society formed around principles of minimal governance and respect for the individual against societies of the past formed around monarchical, centralized governments and the economies therein would seem to be too dishonest to be taken seriously. To his assertion the American dream is dead, I think he is missing a basic point the American Dream is not a dead but has been put on a severely shortened leash by onerous, statist politics. The American dream when put into practice rewards the individual who is motivated, has skills and is inclined to act on his or her abilities and skills to reap the rewards for that hard work and perseverance. The American society has in the preceding decades, going back to the great society policies anyway, been incrementally boxed in, hemmed in and restrained by statists motivated a social engineering agenda rooted in the artificial outcomes based on fairness. The opiate of fairness has been the fuel which has driven the welfare state, sapped individuals of their individual motivation and thereby fed a perception that because the trappings of success have not been handed out there is no longer an American Dream. An essential tenet of the American dream is we have the right to nothing but the pursuit of everything. In as long as society accepts success is rewarded from a government program, the American Dream will be perceived as non existent. In as long as there are Americans willing to reject this idea of the state as guarantor of success, the Dream is alive and well. Society must reset expectations where It is not the state's role to guarantee outcomes based on fairness or even define the starting line, much less the finish line. Success is not defined or declared by the state. Success is achieved and earned by the individual. We must dispense with this tyranny of altruism which decides to confiscate the earnings of a person to reward another person has chosen not to take the initiative be productive and earn. .
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  3. Andie, It's clear from my review of your posts that you don't consider yourself an Objectivist - nor do you believe that Objectivism has any merit or worth. Why are you here, on this forum? Man, life is too short to be wasting it as you are. Why are you wasting YOUR time?
    1 point
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