There is no contradiction, us telling someone they can't smother their aged parents doesn't require we support them. That is clear, and not really debatable, you choose not to read its clear meaning because it violates your narrative. You could simply say, as I do, that the nation has the resources to care for its poor and a moral obligation to make a reasonable effort to do so, and that as children are least able to care for themselves and least responsible for their state we have them as greatest priority. Note that point doesn't contradict the above, it is separate.
View original postView original postHis core point, that objecting to unethical clean ups of problems by people who screwed up doesn't mean we should have to do clean up for them. Accidents happen, but they tend to happen when people aren't acting responsibly and its hard to call them an accident. Telling someone that the consequences are something they have to accept is not the same as me accepting a share of the effort for them dealing with those consequences.
View original postBeing not-broke is not a preeminent need; surival is. We must take Locke VERY literally to believe even POSSESSING—not just retaining—property a natural right; perhaps that was part of why Jefferson revised it to "pursuit [rather than attainment] of happiness." Otherwise we take Locke for a Marxist demanding wealth redistribution, which very few people would do.
View original postMost people agree the answer should be "yes," if only to prevent theft of food the moment our back is turned; that is why we have things like food stamps. There is no reasonable nor other doubt of a beings existence there, so societys active duty (and self interest) is clear.
You state that to steal food when starving is an exception, yet weirdly the idea of other acts of self-preservation involving harming others has come up in our discussion before and you seem at best lukewarm on it for those. There's no dissonance in my remarks, a person should not steal, but in defense of another's life it is forgivable, usually. Same as slapping a hysteric trying to harm themselves. Stealing a loaf of bread to feed your starving family is not "right", simply forgivable, like driving a bleeding person to a hospital instead of calling and ambulance. There are almost inevitably, especially in modern society, superior alternatives, we just recognize that those in extremis or close enough often don't make great decisions.
View original postView original postNow you raise the reasonable doubt issue about personhood and that's a fair point but also backwards. That's not how we do it. If I hear what I think is a child's voice coming from a well I need to go and establish that there is almost certainly not a person down there, not 'a non-remote chance that there isn't'. If we encounter artificial or alien intelligence which doesn't scream totally human we don't demand proof beyond a reasonable doubt that it is a person before we extend it the benefit of the doubt and demand people not kill them on whim. It is not how rational humanists think, but then I'm pretty convinced secularists are pro-choice mostly because religions are anti-abortion.
View original postMy position is a simple one, I don't know how to define 'person' or determine when something is one. I give the benefit of the doubt to them. I am not sure a fetus is a person, not sure an infant is either, since there is decent reason to believe they may be I will act as though that is true unless presented overwhelming evidence they aren't.
View original postWhen reasonable doubt exists we cannot, or should not, INTERVENE over the objections of those involved.
Stop right there, that is simply a proclamation, you don't justify it, merely "Joel says", and hence may be discarded. especially as it contradicts the very concept of probable cause.
Supposing a child is trapped in a well does not justify ignoring a "no trespassing" sign unless one proves the childs presence.
Wrong, it absolutely does. The supposition must merely be 'reasonable', thinking you hear a voice, even if it turns out you didn't, is sufficient. How do you not know that?
Now, I agree we should err on the side of caution in uncertainty; that, absent serious maternal risk, abortions should be neither obtained nor performed unless/until we establish fetuses are nonbeings.
Congrats, you are now officially pro-life, no surprise to me.
I have always encouraged that view in everyone: The difference is I will not MAKE others live in accordance with what I BELIEVE but cannot PROVE. In fact, I CANNOT, only imprison them for refusing—if they survive the added dangers legally imposing my beliefs places on refusal.
I can't prove human life is sacred, I damn well will force others to act as though it is. I can't prove a brain damaged human is still a person, I expect them to be treated as such. We're not talking about the ridiculous, that is encompassed in 'reasonable' doubt, a tree is not a person, neither is a television, that can be established beyond reasonable doubt if not with absolute certainty. We barely have anything approaching a definition of personhood though, and none with precision are well agreed upon.
Nor am I concerned about the 'added dangers' to those who resist us 'imposing' our belief that fetus are people. Anymore then the added danger to a man who believes his Down's Syndrome afflicted child is not a person. Why should I worry and tiptoe and hesitate to ban murdering the mentally retarded for fear of upsetting their parents?
View original postMy concern for and obligation to their immortal souls does not justify me preventing their observance of other religions (or none,) and my concern for and obligation to their unborn children does not justify me preventing their abortion. It is NOT. MY.
CALL.
Then it isn't your call to tell them murder is wrong, theft is wrong, not paying their taxes is wrong, or anything else. That's a valid position but only if you carry it all the way. Otherwise it is nonsense. Position weak and unsupportable you fallback on utter nonsense. Seriously, how the hell do you even have the ability to mutter such gibberish? You can't tell them not to kill people but you've got no problem telling them not to own a gun?
View original postMost Libertarians view (ironically) taxpayers feeding people who would otherwise starve and/or turn to crime just that way, yet insist such life-saving intervention is obligatory prenatally. The state MUST forbid women kill possible beings within their own bodies, but must NOT take a dime from anyone to save those lives once unquestionably beings. That is contradictory: If life-saving society intervention despite individual objections is obligatory for possible pre-natal beings, it is no less so for definite post partum beings. If the latter is state tyranny, so is the former. We cannot demand a possible beings right to life, then stand idly letting it die when born.
Well, news flash, most libertarians are pro-choice, its only recently that most of them stopped flipping out on those who called themselves pro-life libertarians.
In any event, we've established you're fine with forcing people to support other people unless that other person is their own child.
View original postIt is a question of active vs. passive, with multiple reasonable answers. No contradictory ones are reasonable though.
You weren't given any contradictory ones.