Fallacy Form 3 (Inverse Reformulated):
If X is moral (or desirable), then X should be legally required.

This form of the fallacy is commonly invoked by those who seek to prod us into governmental action, without attempting to demonstrate whether the ends in question might be better accomplished by voluntary means not involving the initiation of force. For instance, it may be argued that since the education of children is generally recognized as a worthy goal, public support of that goal (i. e., subsidized education by governmental schools) should, ipso facto, be legally required of every taxpayer. Implicitly, this viewpoint assumes that education efforts have significance only when they are channeled through the coercive apparatus of government, and that parents who pay for free-market schools—or teachers and administrators who operate such schools—do not represent a valid alternative approach to the goal of providing education. To the political reductionist, human action is meaningful and purposeful only when it is directed through political institutions and policies. Form 3 of the Fallacy of Political Reductionism derives directly from Form 1 and is therefore also fallacious.      Next page

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