Your Email:

Subject:

Message:
Entry: Sometimes a Hamburger Is Just a Hamburger Link: http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/sometimes_a_hamburger_is_just_a_hamburger#3125 Post contents: It's certainly in libertarian circles an often unrecognized truth that there is a big difference between the economic realm and the realm of values. Now of course our values inform our belief in free-market economics. But that doesn't mean we value what the market brings about. Further complicating the matter is the fact that our economy is very far from free and just because a business is successful doesn't mean its success isn't due to distortions in the market economy rather than because people truly find their product valuable (I say this because this is something that is often overlooked by libertarians). I think that where the market ends is where civil society begins. Values aren't something that exist in a vacuum - they change and can be changed by the culture we live in. And although one can believe that people should be free to pursue whatever values they want (as long as they respect the rights as others), one can at the same time and without self-contradiction find fault with and criticize these values. And this debate that arises over values would exists even in the most perfect and free of societies. In my opinion, our politics is really a cheap substitution for this debate, since (a) the values being debated are to be forced on everyone else and (b) they are often red-herrings for more ominous considerations (the attainment of power over others). Because in this sense society is still in somewhat of a primitive state, people think that if you are for or against something that you advocate forcing your views on others. This is true only to the extent that you feel the State is the final arbitrator of all values. In a truly civil society, one's values need not be a threat to another's. Sent at: 2008 11 20