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Utilitarianism

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Ann Speaking
By the way. Since we were talking about property rights, I want to say that I agree that some sort of property rights are important for a free society. I'm not saying that we should have no property rights or that the government should be able to take away your property at will.

But consider some of the actual consequences of property as we know it. And I want to suggest that without a welfare state to reduce these consequences, they would be very obvious. I think that libertarians ignore these problems.
  • Extreme inequality
  • The enormous influence that the rich have on government
  • Extreme poverty and the misery that attends it
  • The loss of all the benefits that would come from developing everyone's potential
These are some of the consequences that should be considered when defining property rights for a society to live by. 

I think there is something to be said for Rawls' concept of background conditions that must be maintained in order for a set of property rights to be justified. But as long as those background conditions are satisfied, then those property rights should be vigorously enforced.
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