Quote:
Originally Posted by random_thoughts
I don't have contradicting beliefs. Do you?
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Try these:
1. You believe there have to be rules or that someone has to be in charge (society requires the rule of law). This means that there needs to be a final decider or ultimate all-powerful thing to overrule the individual judgment of normal people. You don't think ANY entity making up ANY rules is good, though. You don't want a homicidal tyrant in charge, for example, who would make rules that led to the slaughtering of citizens. So, if there have to be rules and an outside authority governing everyone else, how do you decide what that authority should dictate? Who are you or I to decide that? If the law says to kill all babies, disobeying would be putting your own judgment above that of the "law" or "authority".
What you really want is for government to take your personal judgment and impose it on everyone else. The moment someone else wants their preferences and values forced on you, you'll have an issue with it. That is inconsistent. Do you think it's okay to ever disobey the law? If yes, government can't have any true right to rule. If you don't have an obligation to obey, then it can't be the all-powerful decider of the rules anymore. If government does have the right to rule, you would have to obey it no matter what.
2. You believe in taxation and think it's justified. You believe it's justified because government has the moral right to collect them, otherwise it would simply be theft if you didn't want to pay them and they demanded it anyway. If you don't have the right to take someone else's money, then how can you give that right to someone else to do it? Can a big group of people, none of which have the right to steal, give me the right to steal? What if they have a big fancy ceremony? It doesn't change anything, so believing that taxation is ok, but theft is not is hypocritical.
3. The law tells you to do something against your own moral code (maybe shoot an innocent child, for example)...which of these would you agree with?
(1) "I am morally obligated to disregard and disobey that command, break the law, behave as a "criminal", and accept that my own conscience outranks all the politicians and legislation in the world."
(2) "I am morally obligated to ignore my own values, my own moral code and conscience, and obey the commands of the rulers."
If you picked one, you're an anarchist. If you pick two, you're a slave (and you'd also be saying "I believe that the RIGHT thing to do is the thing that I think is WRONG," or "I judge that I shouldn't rely on my judgment")
Credit to Larken Rose for these.
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