Jim Choate writes:
What would be the responce of a anarchic system that was based on profit in regards something like Mitch's impact on Ctl. America and their plea for food and aid?
`Their plea for food and aid' is just that: a plea; it no more creates an _obligation_ to help them than my plea for your money to help rebuild my burned-down house should. Still, in an anarcho-capitalistic system, Mitch would be responded to by private individuals through charitable aid organizations such as the Red Cross (much as it is now). Your asking the question implies that you believe we have or should have an obligation to help Mitch's victims; one that justifies the use of tax money - money that is, in effect, collected at gunpoint from all of us citizen units. By the way, since you're so fond of quoting the US Constitution, please show where the document authorizes the Men With Guns to take their captives'^H^H^H^H^H^Hcitizens' money and give it away to help victims of natural disasters in foreign countries. (Also consider that Mitch is merely one in a long line of natural disasters that have been and continue to be inflicted on various peoples of the world. Some we hear about and some we don't, based on the vagaries of the news media's inclinations and their judgement of how interested the American public will be. We don't end up bailing them all out; only those which one politician or another has decided will make them look `compassionate'. If an equivalent disaster occurred in a less favored nation - say, an earthquake in Iran - you can bet that the US's governmental response would be much less generous.)