On 12-27-97 Frank Masingill wrote to John Boone... 
 
        Hello Frank and thanks for writing, 
 
        [snip] 
  
 FM> JB> From "Free to Choose" page 97,98: 
 
 FM> JB> The first modern state to introduce on a fairly large scale the 
 FM> JB> kind of 
 FM> JB> welfare measures.........."Iron Chancellor" Otto Von Bismark.  
 FM> JB> His 
 FM> JB> [Bismarks] motives were a complex mixture of parternalistic 
 FM> JB> concern for 
 FM> JB> the lower classes and shrewd politics. It may seem paradoxial 
 
        [snip] 
  
 FM> JB> So, Milton Friedman thinks that BISMARK was a idelogical 
 FM> JB> socialist with 
 FM> JB> regard to CENTRALIZED rule. He says and I quote again: 
  
 FM> JB> But there is no paradox----even putting to one side Bismark's 
 FM> JB> political 
 FM> JB> motives.  Believers in aristocracy and socialism share a faith in 
 FM> JB> CENTRALIZED rule, in rule by command rather than by voluntary 
 FM> JB> cooperation. 
  
        [snip] 
  
 FM>    I surely will not argue the point and I bow to the superior skill 
 FM> of Milton 
 FM> Friedman as an historian (grin).  I am also sorry that I misled all of 
 FM> those students over the years in my acceptance of the more conventional 
 FM> assessment of Bismarck.   
   
  This is where I find your position abour "REALITY" somewhat 
inconsistent as I pointed out before. 
  How could you "accept" knowing the "REALITY" of Bismark based 
upon the -assumption- about the impossibility for anyone, including 
you, to know that you know part of "REALITY?"   
  IOW, in order for you to know that you know the "REALITY" of Bismark, 
you must also know that you know PART of "REALITY" pretaining to 
Bismark which is something that you said you couldn't do.  
 
 FM>    With enough rationalization I believe one could make Charlemagne 
 FM> into a modern ideologue.  He surely did care about his people! 
  
  Let us define ideologue (from Encarta's 95 dictionary): 
 
        definition of ideologue:  an advocate of a particular 
                                  ideology 
        definition of ideology:   1 )a systemic set of doctrines or 
                                  beliefs or 2) the body of ideas 
                                  reflecting the social needs and 
                                  aspirations of an individual, group, 
                                  class or culture 
 
        defintion of doctrine or belief:  something believed or accepted 
                                          as true. 
 
        definition of advocate:  someone who speaks, pleads, or 
                                 argues in favour of 
   
  Putting together, an ideologue is a person who speaks or argues 
in favour of something believed or accepted as true.  Are you going 
to tell me Charlemagne didn't advocate "something he believed to 
be true?"   
  Finally, and I am sorry to tell you according to this defintion, 
you are an ideologue.  The "something" you believe, accept, to be 
true is "man can't know "REALITY"" and you certainty advocate, 
argue, it here thus fullfilling the requirements of a ideologue. 
  Heck according to this defintion, we are probably -all- 
ideologues. 
 
Take care, 
John 
 
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