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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We don't need to look to other countries.  Read Robert Nozick's Anarchy, State, and Utopia outlining minimal, night-watchman state.  [/quote]
Right, were going to undo everything and create the world's first mini-archist state out of a book.  And people think liberals have some wild ideas.  :roll: [/quote]

It's not creating a state from scratch, from the state of nature like John Rawls.  Obviously you didn't read philosophy.  Nozick starts from where we are.  [/quote]
Actually, I've read a ton of philosophy including Rawls and Nozick.  Rawls uses an updated version of Enlightment social contract theory.  It's a philosophical construct, not an actual state of nature from which to create something.  When the founding fathers started the United States they used social contract theory, but they based their new society on British and colonial models.  Rawls likewise seeks a justification for our present system allowing redistribution of wealth as well as changing it a more equitable direction.

On the other hand, Nozick posits a society that is radically different from the one we have and for which there is no prior model.  [/quote]

Rawls starting point is what he calls the veil of ignorance - something which never, ever, happens in real life.  Nozick's starting point, on the other hands, is here and now.  Read his Walt Chamberlain example to see he's not far off from the existing system if you live in a capitalist economy.  And it's a matter of how big of a government you want.  The night-watchman state does not rule out social programs where social programs fix prior injustice.  [/quote]

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