Hey this discussion is really rockin now...thanks to you all.
Thanks Rob...you are right on target. That's why I said I'd like to get
rid of public property....and that perhaps the best way to do that is to
make it so disgusting that people want to buy it so they can manage it.
Letting everyone do what they want on it is a good way to achieve that.
Another good way to deal with this would be to allow various citizen
groups to bid on the contract to run the property. Hopefully this
answers your questions about my position.
I'd like to go over your questions one by one. By the way, my father was
a non-practicing Jew...and I certainly have a great deal of respect for
the Jewish faith. While I don't expect to convert anyone here, I'm just
sharing my views as it is through this process that I became a
Libertarian.
You said: How does having another God or not keeping the Sabbath hurt me
and others?
Mike: There is only one G_d whether people believe it or not. Keeping
the Sabbath simply means taking time from work and play to devote time
to prayer and reflection...however you do it.
You said: Don't care. Not my religion. The point was that the text
full of OPINIONS AND ASSERTIONS that you devoutly believe in (even if
it's only the kind and loving parts written in the last two thousand
years) should have no higher status in government than Adolf Hitler's
text full of opinions and assertions.(Or Greenpeace's, or NOW's...)
Mike: I agree...my comment was in response to things people were saying
about the bible itself, not about its status in government...although I
certainly think we could use some of the influences.
You said: The question is whether anyone's agenda, good or bad, deserves
a plot of free land, paid for by taxpayers, for the construction of a
monument.
Mike: I've already said that public land is a bad idea.
You said: The problem is that the establishment will simply choose to
discriminate about what is acceptable for public land and what is not.
Mike: Nobody heard me saying that the "establishment" was right on this
subject. Once again, the problem is not the bible or anything else. The
problem is public land.
Mike