Being a libertarian means accepting some rules so that individuals, including the writer, do NOT cause harm, permanent affliction or death at the hands of someone else. It also means imposing rules to protect the individual from his or her own silly actions, particularly when the ignoring of "silly rules" brings a cost penalty against society, coming out of my pocket when I disapprove of the silly actions."Why should I pay someone else's idiocy?

Dear Paul,

Firstly, I share your suspicion about individuals possibly abusing libertarianism. Anything can be abused and libertarian ideas are no exception.

Now this concept of a "collective" is even more open to abuse.
While being used for practical calculations as a statistical approximation tool, there is no "collective" in reality, only people, and speaking of competition between the interests of individuals and of the collective is like speaking of competition between the physical laws governing water (H2O) molecules and the laws governing the ocean.

It is true that in the deepest sense, in metaphysical terms, neither individuals nor collectives have any interests whatsoever, but relatively speaking, individuals are the deeper underlying reality of society and as such, any attribution of interests to the collective is based only on the interests of individuals. The convenience of statistical abstraction cannot override the underlying reality.

Speaking of the helmet-bicycle law under which I personally suffered since 1990, having being prevented from riding a bicycle (including the resulting compromise to both the environment and my own fitness/health), I would never expect, or even allow, the tax-payer to pay my hospital-incarceration bills should I accidentally hit my head, whether that accident involves a bicycle or otherwise.

It is not that I wish to be incarcerated in the first place as I would rather die there and then and be relieved from my injured mortal coil, but should that happen, I would either pay for it myself or if the sum is larger, claim on my international health insurance policy which I have for that very purpose, in order not to depend on the Australian medicare and steal/rob anything from the Australian taxpayer.

You and I know that head-protection was only a convenient excuse while the true intention of that law had been to make people wear on their heads a symbol of their submission to the regime.

Sorry Yuyutsu, you can not avoid the "collective". Taking your example of; "helmet-bicycle law under which I (Yuyutsu) personally suffered since 1990". Should you be unfortunate to come off your bicycle, the very bicycle manufactured by the collective, and hit your head on the bitumen laid by the collective. In all fairness you should not expect an ambulance, again provided by the collective, to arrive and rush you off to a hospital, something the collective has built, even if you are willing to pay the medical costs involve, building hospitals is very expensive, so I doubt you would cough up the necessaries for your share of the actual cost. Nah, you'll just have to lie there until you know what happens. And before you ask, no undertaker will be fronting up to take care of your mortal remains, it would be more work involved for the collective. Sorry about that.

Dear Paul,

"Ocean" is only a statistical abstraction - all there is in that space is water (H2O) and well, also some salts, mainly NaCl... and well, some fish too.

"Collective" is also like that and not a sentient being: all there is in that space are individual people. It is individual people who built hospitals and bicycles, including the bicycle I never had because some individual people decreed that I am not allowed to use one, but rather pump petrol fumes into the atmosphere.

I never asked your people to build me a hospital, nor to take my body there, but as the hospital is already there and as you might be taking my body there against my will, I will be paying for these relative costs anyway, not for my enjoyment but just in order to avoid robbing the tax-payers: I live without stealing and robbing others and so I will also die not being a thief or a robber.

As for the nuisance of that broken body of mine, sorry for dropping that rubbish in your street and please feel free to chuck my mortal coil in the nearest green bin, better still, allow the birds to have a nice meal of it.

We can't actually compare rights & respect whilst ignoring merit & responsibility !