is there free will?

[The Stranger]

How so? If someone is evil then they are evil, the fact they can't choose to do good doesn't make them any better.

it does not make them any better. you mistake good and evil for free and unfree. im not talking about that. if he is evil he is evil, but he is NOT RESPONSIBLE for being evil. and thus cannot be held ACCOUNTABLE for what he does in the way that we do now.

In the world of the Gnostic sects where there is one good god and one bad god, is the bad god any less evil simply because it is purely a matter of his nature, rather than him being rational and able to choose between good and evil?

you cannot treat gods in the way you treat men and you cannot treat men in the way you treat god. but again if the god has no ability to change his nature than he cannot be responsible for how he is. and if how is is the same as what he does than in that sense he is also not responsible for what he does. but even so it is irrelevent because there is no one to hold him responsible or anyone he has to account his deeds to.

If that was the case, shoudln't there just be a blanket legal punishment for being drunk, regardless of what the person does afterwards? If being drunk is the only thing we are held accountable for when a crime follows, why should someone who drink drives and kills someone get a longer sentence than someone who smashes a window on a night out or whatever?

that is a very good question. and i think being drunk irresponsible is always a "crime". its just very hard to determine those boundaries.