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)
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