-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 > >What is so outrageous about 'paying rent for the priviledge of > >land'? > > Nothing, per say -- especially outside the U.S. . . . HOWEVER . . > . this is one of the prime areas of difference between the United > States and > all the rest of the World, now and throughout history -- In the > United States, the Citizens _ARE_ the Sovereign. This is a unique, > and > important philosophical position. The United States was the first, > and sofar only, country to ever have embraced this idea.
If US political traditions consider individuals as sovereigns, what do they consider them sovereign over? If you say 'his body' then who is the government to say 'you shall not use your body to assault another man'? If you say his speech, then who is the government to say 'you shall not bear false witness against your neighbour'? If you say over his land, then why does the US constitution permit the government to appropriate land provided it pays just compensation? If you say over his neighbours then why does the US constitution outlaw slavery? Property taxes and land taxes have long been used in the USA, and indeed many of the first taxes imposed by US states were on land. Sovereigns without territorial jurisdictions are not sovereigns. On a man's land a man may not murder or defraud his neighbour, rather hi is constrained by the law of the land, imposed by the sovereign, over him and his possessions within the jurisdiction. The idea that individuals are sovereigns is a fringe theory in the USA and pretty much no where else, it had never been a political tradition anywhere. Individuals can enjoy freedoms, only sovereigns enjoy true sovereign power. Freedom is conscribed by law, law proscribes offending and sanctions punishment. Sovereignty is concribed by the limited capacity of the sovereign for violence, the counter-violence capacities of rival sovereigns and the market power of individuals. Individuals as sovereigns is a form of anarchism, and this has never been a foundational philosophical position of US political thinkers. The USA is a common law nation based on ideals of limited federal republican governemnt and individual freedom. Judges, legislators and executives were to govern within constitutionally specified powers. Individuals were to enjoy certian rights and freedoms. This is quite different from individuals as sovereigns, an idea the country has never 'embraced.' David Hillary -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGPfreeware 7.0.3 for non-commercial use <http://www.pgp.com> iQA/AwUBPEKNrxNDEcR4nEncEQJ+XwCgibGcIqy8d+uIk6kBdQjxOJ3ozT4An2qP As6zHHuXSWYf8GfretjOqd0h =/OGz -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --- You are currently subscribed to e-gold-list as: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Use e-gold's Secure Randomized Keyboard (SRK) when accessing your e-gold account(s) via the web and shopping cart interfaces to help thwart keystroke loggers and common viruses.
