Originally posted by der schwarze Ritterwikipedia:
"The idea that you need only public schools or only the aristocracy is going to get educated is erroneous. To me there are two parts of equity, and one is not forcing people to pay for other people's education. That seems more like theft than equity. …
"If you had private schooling, different schools would find different choices on these issue ...[text shortened]... be calling it socialist education." --- Loyola University economics Prof. Walter Block
Block was born in Brooklyn, New York to Abraham Block, a certified public accountant, and Ruth Block, a paralegal, both of whom Block has described as "liberals."[1]
Originally posted by zeeblebot[edit] Introduction to libertarianism
wikipedia:
Block was born in Brooklyn, New York to Abraham Block, a certified public accountant, and Ruth Block, a paralegal, both of whom Block has described as "liberals."[1]
Block's early thinking life was characterized by egalitarian thought. In an interview by the Austrian Economics Newsletter, Block stated, "In the fifties and sixties, I was just another commie living in Brooklyn."[4] Block credits his "conversion" to libertarianism to personal meetings with Ayn Rand while he was an undergraduate student. Alan Greenspan was in attendance at some of these meetings.[1] As Block describes it, "In 1963, when I was a senior at Brooklyn College, Ayn Rand came there to give a lecture. I attended, along with about 3,000 of my fellow mainly leftish students, in order to boo and hiss her, since she was evil incarnate…Not having had enough booing and hissing at Ayn in her formal lecture, I decided to…to further express my displeasure with her and her views."[1]
Block thereafter attended a luncheon with Rand, Nathaniel Branden, and Leonard Peikoff. After Block's challenging of several luncheon attendees to demonstrate capitalism's superiority, Branden forged an agreement with Block: "Nathan very graciously offered to come to the other end of the table with me for this purpose, but he imposed two preconditions: first, I would be honor bound not to allow this conversation to lapse with this one meeting, but would continue with it until we had achieved a resolution: either he would convince me of the error of my ways, or I would convince him of his. Second, I would read two books he would later recommend to me (Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand and Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt).[1]
Although Block credits Ayn Rand, Branden, and other Objectivists with his initial interest in laissez faire theory in general, he says of Murray Rothbard that,
After I met Murray, it took him probably all of 15 minutes to convert me to the same anarcho-capitalist position I have held ever since.... In retrospect, before I had met Murray, I was nine tenths of the way toward embracing laissez faire capitalist anarchism; all I needed was a little push in the same direction I had already been going for some time.[1]
Originally posted by der schwarze RitterDo you have a link so I can read the parts you left out? Aside from your ellipses, it seems very incomplete, like he's making statements without offering well-thought-out alternatives that make sense.
"The idea that you need only public schools or only the aristocracy is going to get educated is erroneous. To me there are two parts of equity, and one is not forcing people to pay for other people's education. That seems more like theft than equity. …
"If you had private schooling, different schools would find different choices on these issue ...[text shortened]... be calling it socialist education." --- Loyola University economics Prof. Walter Block
Originally posted by der schwarze RitterI think you'll find the answer is: revolt.
What did the poor children do before there were government/education monopoly schools? If they weren't crowded out by government, I suppose churches, businesses and civic organizations would form their own schools. You'll note, that in communist countries, these organizations are outlawed.
Originally posted by der schwarze RitterIn which countries which you consider communist (and I'm sure you think that's a lot more than I do), are churches, businesses or civic organisations (whetever they are) outlawed?
What did the poor children do before there were government/education monopoly schools? If they weren't crowded out by government, I suppose churches, businesses and civic organizations would form their own schools. You'll note, that in communist countries, these organizations are outlawed.