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What I like best about your proposal is its social consequences -- no more segregation of the needy. The principle that a certain minimum level of existence should be free is a robust one, the only difficulty is setting the level properly. There is so much waste in the current welfare system and so much to be saved by having a free market in food that a decent level should be achievable. Certain European countries peg the level too high and are dragged down by freeloaders, but everything is (or could be) so cheap in this country that the freeloader burden at your suggested McDonalds/Motel6 level ought to be tolerable. Some smart economists have probably already proven this, if not some studies should be done. A proposal with a similar flavor is to make the New York subways free. They are already heavily subsidized, and all the expense of token booths and clerks, security to protect same, etc., would go away. Usage would increase a lot so that the cost of...
I was disappointed to see Stallman's solicitations for People for the American Way (an ex-staffer of which recently admitted that their annual "censored books" report is full of faked numbers), the ACLU (which is a great organization for Internet freedom concerns but is [to put it politely] misguided in some other areas), and Planned Parenthood (don't get me started). I have long marvelled at how predictable people's political positions on unrelated issues can be and can only explain it by supposing that most people come to hold most of their positions for social reasons (with both "mosts" being rather strong ones, just weaker than "almost all").I like RMS very much personally and strongly respect and agree with what he does. Because I respect him so much as an original thinker I was particularly sad to see that his view of the cultural battle around such issues as alternative lifestyles and "political correctness" was so cliched (though not particularly surprised)...