At 9:49 AM -0700 8/31/00, Michael Motyka wrote:
Petro wrote:
What do you expect from a bunch of whipped Europeans?
To quote T. Pratchett "They don't need chains, they have obedience."
The only difference is that they know they are whipped. We have the
chains but no obedience. Chains paid for by our own money.
I'm trying to avoid bashing Europeans. They have their chains, these
United States have their own chains, and so on.
Europe doesn't have nearly as much of a fascist War on (Some) Drugs
causing doors to be knocked down, pre-dawn raids, aerial surveillance
helicopters (*), billions in military aid and "advisors" sent to
growing regions, and "drugs for arms" scandals. Or, rather, they have
a _fraction_ of what these United States have in these areas.
(* Re: the drug helicopters: my area is in the Santa Cruz Mountains,
a noted marijuana growing region. Several films about drug culture
have been filmed here, including Billy Bob Thornton's "Homegrown" and
the film "Quiet Cool" some years ago. August is the month when
choppers are zooming up and down the canyons as part of "CAMP," the
Campaign Against Marijuana Production. Choppers find pot fields,
troops are dispatched, shoot-outs occur. All over a plant, an
agricultural product which several of the Founders grew on their
plantations. And Santa Cruz also has the fascist police state habit
of subpoenaing the customer records of hydroponics equipment sellers
and then launching raids against those who bought such equipment.
Welcome to Amerika.)
Europe has many police state tendencies. So do these United States.
(By the way, I am deliberately using the "pre-War of Northern
Aggression" formulation: "these United States," as opposed to the
post-1865 shift to "_the_ United States." The union was a union of
states, with states joining the union assured that they could depart
when they elected to no longer be part of the union. The First
Fascist, Lincoln, put an end to this when he disallowed the southern
states from leaving the union. So much for the voluntary part, eh?
The First Fascist also set in motion the various trends flowering
today.)
Sadly, Europe has accelerated its move toward statism with the
European Union and also the widening of NATO to include many eastern
european nations (at a time when the theat from Russia is ebbing).
The Common Market was a pretty good idea, just as NAFTA was a good
idea in recent years. But a common economic market, with minimal or
no tariffs, is not at all the same thing as a merging of currencies,
laws, and local policies. Currency conversions are cheap, and dynamic
currencies make for competition, which is good. (And, of course, all
believers in liberty would support the right of an Italian to price
his goods in any currency he wishes to, from dollars to D-marks.)
The rise of a European Union and a surging NATO is likely to lessen
liberties and expand the power of the state.
And when Denmark and Norway, say, decide to leave the Union, look for
the fascists to dust off the speeches of Lincoln.
--Tim May
--
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Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
ComSec 3DES: 831-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
"Cyphernomicon" | black markets, collapse of governments.
