Sunday, March 4, 2007

Final thoughts on Civil War

Violence is the prerogative of the state.
I hope my friends clone me when I die.
It's not against the law for a duly deputized law enforcer to kill a dangerous opponent who is currently menacing said officer.
The fight is not about liberty and fascism, it's about liberty and accountability.

This is the point that gets the most sticking. Liberty is a religion in our country- well, it's not, but it inspires awe and worship. And rightly so. Liberty is a high purpose. But...

Liberty without accountability is anarchy.

That's what Cap was fighting for, a sort of Super-Anarchy. Wherein those with powers are free to do whatever they like as long as they mean well.

One of the principle restraints we must place on liberty is that man is not free to impinge on the liberties of another person. Certainly not directly, and to attempt to legislate in such a way as to prevent accidental infringement. That's Mill.

BUt one of the things that you find you must do, in order to allow for maximum liberty, is to place a system whereby people are educated and encouraged not to impinge on others' liberty. WE have a lot of this in our society- we don't have anarchy on our roads (excepting Massachusetts)

Man I'm too tired to write a philisophical post. Read Andrew Miller's review of Captain America/Iron man: casualties of war over at Spider-fan. Other than liking Straczynski, he's pretty smart.

I'll post some straczynski low-lights tomorrow.

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