Plato's Republic

[Brad DeLong]

>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Justin Schwartz" <jkschw at hotmail.com>
>
>>   Coercion is the very essence of law....that is the entire point of
>>Dworkin's work: how does a liberla society one justify coersion?
>
>-The point about liberalism is that you don't use coercion to enforce
>-contested views about fundamentals: that's why head scarves are protected.
>
>So how do you feel about public school vouchers?  Plato saw grabbing control
>of the education as the key to totalitarian rule, since you woudn't need
>much coercion if you controlled the education of one's political opponents.
>
>So should a truly liberal state allow parents to educate their children free
>from coercion, including economic coercion, by providing vouchers for
>education as they see fit?  John Stuart Mill saw this as a key part of
>liberalism in the 19th century but his American disciples, partly inspired
>by anti-Catholicism, saw mandatory public school education as a key part of
>their creed.
>
>So is public education a form of coercion?
>
>-- Nathan

Damned right--and a good one, too! People must be Taught to be 
Liberal if the necessary political regime to Force Them to be Free is 
to be stable.

I'm not interested in keeping Nietzschean Ubermensch options open for 
humanity's future...

Brad DeLong, who gives thanks for eudora's built-in spellchecker 
everytime he needs to spell Nietzsche...