Wednesday 30 June 2010

Are People Stupid? Or are they just hypocrites...?

While on holiday in Poland I had a most curious conversation about zoning rules in our capital, Warsaw. Being a supporter of full-fledged freedom I am, of course, totally against any zoning laws or any other laws abridging the rights of people to do whatever they wish with their private property. The people I spoke to, however, were "fully" supportive of zoning. I say "fully" because they supported it only as long as it pertained to other people - not themselves. First I heard them complain loudly about how housing developers should be banned from building 4-storey high apartment blocks near areas which are for "small, single-family homes" because it ruins the landscape. A few minutes later, however, the conversation turned to a piece of property owned within Warsaw city limits by one of the speakers. Suddenly I was told that scandalously he is banned from building anything taller than 4-stories high on his plot of land! This makes his land less valuable and he is unable to sell it! Am I the only person (sadly...) who finds anything strange in this standpoint? Apparently justice really depends on the viewpoint - it is something subjective, not objective. This notion could not be more wrong. Justice is always objective. For a real definition of what is just, my earlier entry about the Law of Equal Liberty should suffice (read it here). This entry might be about democracy as a system in itself, but it certainly also includes all laws made in a democratic (i.e. mob-rule) way. Zoning laws are just one example of how individual rights of property are violated by the state which has vowed to uphold them.

1 comment:

  1. I think one of the things that this shows is how 'hard' it is for people to live here accordingly to the truth. Truth is like a sword - sharp on both sides. People often sub-consiously try to manipulate it so that while using it against their opponents they do not hurt themselves. It shows the downfall of Christiandom.
    The beauty of true liberalism is that it is self regulating. I can give a 'good guess' that in a society composed by 'good Christians', most if not all political systems would work; we know that the existence of such a society is impossible in this world. Nevertheless even in a libertarian state we need people to by law obedient e.g. not steeling from each-other. In a state of Christiandom this would not be such a problem.
    The interesting question here is why are people afraid of the truth, the only reality that exists. Is this what created the 'system' or was it created by the 'system'?

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