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Politics

What is Politics?

Politics is ethics applied to a group of people.

Why is this Important?

Politics tells you how a society must be set up and how one should act within a society. Except for hermits, this comes up a lot.

What is a rational Politics?

The requirement for a political system is that the individuals within that system are allowed to fully function according to their nature. If that's not the case, they will either rebel, as in Czarist Russia, or the system will eventually collapse, as in Communist Russia.

Reason is man's prime means of survival. A human being can not survive in an environment where reason is ineffective, and will thrive or starve to a degree in proportion to the effectiveness of reason. This means that the prime goal of a political system must be the preservation and enabling of the faculty of reason.

Reason does not function under coercion. A man can be forced to act at the point of a gun, but he can not be forced to think. Likewise, in an environment where might makes right, reason can not function because the fruits of rationality can not be enjoyed. Why plant crops and domesticate animals if any raider can come by and take them from you?

A moral political system must ban coercion. Or put another way, a moral political system must ban the initiation of force, since retaliatory force is both just and necessary. This means there must be some way to keep one person from killing, threatening, or robbing another. This is accomplished by bestowing on government a monopoly on retaliatory force and objectifying laws.

Basics

The Initiation of Force
Rights

  • Right to Life
  • Right to Liberty
  • Right to Property
  • Right to the Pursuit of Happiness
  • Right to Free Speech
  • Right to Self Defense

  • Necessity of Government
    The Proper Role of Government
    Laissez Faire Capitalism
    Taxation

    Specifics

    Law
    Rule of Law
    Constitutions
    Separation of Powers
    Checks and Balances
    Federalism
    An Armed Populace: The Right to Bear Arms
    Trial by Jury
    Voting

    Technicalities

    Capitalism
    Financing a Government
    The Death Penalty
    Abortion
    Fraud


    (This page mirrored from Importance of Philosophy.com)