Electoral Reform

[Chaerophon]

Just a couple of questions for you Kandrathe: what would you say if I told you that I think the distribution of natural talents and abilities was, for all intents and purposes, morally arbitrary? That I don't think we "deserve" our natural talents and situation of birth,that they were thrust upon us through no doing/fault of our own? I'm not sure whether or not you're familiar with John Rawls, but this is the foundation on which his theory of redistribution is legitimated, and I think that it is the strongest basic argument against your brand of libertarianism.

This isn't meant as an attack post; I'm just curious to hear your thoughts. As members of a society, do you think that we all equally "deserve" our talents and starting positions, whether good or bad? How does this square with the typical libertarian emphasis on "hard work" and "earning" one's position in life? How great of a role should "luck" with respect to these factors play in our share of society's distribution of wealth? I've always found the libertarian position a bit self-contradictory. If property is an absolute right due primarily to the input-value of my labour, then how can we definitively claim our talents as something that we "own", and deny that they are a matter of luck? If we can't claim an entitlement to our talents, then it would seem that graduated taxation is fully legitimate, as those who are worse off in this regard ought to be made better off due to inequalities of starting position that are no fault of their own and have nothing to do with any action (or lack thereof) on their part.