[Dean's World] Dave Price: Principles

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Posted by Dave Price:
Principles
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1183321808.shtml


   There's really only one basic principle I carry around and try to
   apply philosophically, which goes something like this:
   Liberty is both a universal aspiration of human beings and the
   mechanism by which individuals and societies can achieve the greatest
   prosperity and happiness, thus our actions and policies should always
   strive to increase the sum total of human liberty.
   This was, incidentally, the realization that pushed me from movement
   conservative to classical liberal or libertarian. Certain aspects of
   the conservative agenda that were demonstrably, empirically successful
   -- free markets, free trade -- tended to argue this way, but the
   principle they proved conflicts with other tenets of conservative
   thought, such as the need for a "war" on what chemicals people choose
   to ingest and the dogmatic illiberalism some social conservatives find
   in the Bible.
   So some might dismiss it as too general for decisions on specific
   issues, but I think it's always a useful lens through which to view
   any policy -- and the farther one departs from this principle the
   farther from truth one will end up, in my opinion.