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While there is an argument that economic coercion is true coercion, most people think that if you freely choose to provide a service (like farming animals), and
by kybernetikos 10y ago
While there is an argument that economic coercion is true coercion, most people think that if you freely choose to provide a service (like farming animals), and freely enter into commercial arrangements concerning the fruits of your labour (selling meat) to others who freely choose to swap money for the things you're selling them, then no imposition has occurred.
The main way to make your argument work I think is by looking at the externalities imposed on everyone, but things become less clear cut then, because nothing we do is entirely free of side effects, and choosing which to restrict legally is not simple and ideally should be done impartially when it is done.
- eropple 10y agoThose externalities are the imposition I was referring to, yes. The costs borne by people who are not getting that delicious ribeye cannot be ignored. And nothing is free of side effects, of course. Every activity is political activity, every activity is economic activity. You might have noted that I said nothing about "restrict[ing] legally"; your choices (and mine!) have consequences that we must own, and that is a completely separate topic from what should be legislated about.