OT - I don't _hate_ McMansions

[Andy Bradford]

Thus said Stuart Jansen on Thu, 26 Jun 2008 06:34:20 MDT:

> On Wed, 2008-06-25 at 21:51 -0600, Andy Bradford wrote: > They are not
> an option because even some low-income people want a home.
>
> I  think  you meant  house.  A  house is  not  a  home. An  apartment,
> townhouse or even an RV can be a home.

Yes, thank you for the correction. I did mean house.

> Never heard of democracy? Huh, that's too bad 'cause it's been working
> pretty well for us for a couple hundred years.

If democracy is so  grand, why don't we go full out  and practice a true
democracy  (which America  is  not)? Last  I  checked, the  Constitution
established a  republican form of government.  This is not one  in which
majority rules, which is really just a glorified form of mob rules. This
is one in which  we seek to establish just laws;  although lately, as in
the last century  or so, we seem  to have lost sight  of that principle.
Would you advocate true democracy?

> Never heard  of trial  and error, the  scientific method,  wisdom from
> experience, or even common sense?

Yes, trial and error is fine  where all interactions are voluntary. This
is what happens in a society in which all interactions are voluntary and
government is restricted to  protecting people and property. Innovations
in laws are not fine. I'm sorry,  but I will never accept being a guinea
pig for  law makers;  my liberty  and freedom, even  life are  much more
important than that.  Of course most feel its alright  to use government
to force others to do what they  think is the ideal, simply because they
are the ``majority.''

> A  hundred  years  ago  we  didn't  know  that  creating  high-density
> low-income housing  like the  projects was  a bad  idea, now  based on
> experience we do.

According to who? So we have  a few people here that think high-density,
low-income  housing  developments  are  distasteful. As  long  as  these
developments  arise  out of  voluntary  exchange  and interaction,  what
exactly is wrong with it? If it doesn't work out, we'll people will lose
their interest, money,  etc... and eventually we'll have  either a ghost
town or it  will be sold off  for more efficient uses.  What exactly can
government contribute to  this process? And if its  ``planning'' who are
they and how did they get so wise?

Is there  anything worse in  housing than government  subsidized housing
projects? Maybe this is where the phrase, ``piece of HUD'' arose?

> A  pure  free   market  does  not  magically   converge  instantly  to
> perfection,  it  takes  time  and  along  the  way  there  are  bumps.
> Government should be given the same opportunity.

There's a  big difference between voluntary  interaction and government.
One  involves  peaceful interactions,  the  other  involves force,  even
deadly  force. This  kind of  power only  should be  used when  there is
aggression against  someone's person or  property. It shouldn't  be used
when  someone decides  they want  a  smaller/larger house  on less  than
desirable lot sizes.

> You'll need more tools.

This is  the eternal cycle  and end of  bad government. Replace  one bad
tool with more bad tools. Haven't  you ever wondered why bad regulations
require yet more bad regulations to  fix them? And the cycle never ends.
Eventually things fall apart (Rome anyone?) and the whole process starts
over.

Speaking of tools, I found the following books very enlightening:

http://users.aol.com/xeqtr1/voluntaryist/nomahg.html
http://www.constitution.org/law/bastiat.htm

The first  speaks of the  tool called government.  The second is  a much
more well  known book by  Frederic Bastiat. Both  are short and  easy to
read.

> Government is a tool to make  capitalism possible and limit the damage
> when it goes wrong.

So  basically government  created  laws so  capitalism  could exist?  Or
maybe people,  desiring to  protect their  person and  property invented
government? And then capitalism naturally  arose? The history of mankind
is a history of man struggling to live free from coercion and aggression
and to  keep what is  justly acquired. Again I  ask, what is  the proper
role of government?

Andy
-- 
[-----------[system uptime]--------------------------------------------]
  9:42pm  up 43 min,  1 user,  load average: 1.26, 1.17, 1.07