On 1/10/2015 2:00 AM, Telmo Menezes wrote:
On Sat, Jan 10, 2015 at 12:24 AM, meekerdb <meeke...@verizon.net
<mailto:meeke...@verizon.net>> wrote:
On 1/9/2015 3:11 PM, 'Chris de Morsella' via Everything List wrote:
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*From:* meekerdb <meeke...@verizon.net> <mailto:meeke...@verizon.net>
*To:* everything-list@googlegroups.com
<mailto:everything-list@googlegroups.com>
*Sent:* Friday, January 9, 2015 2:45 PM
*Subject:* Re: Democracy
On 1/9/2015 1:08 PM, 'Chris de Morsella' via Everything List wrote:
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*From:* meekerdb <meeke...@verizon.net> <mailto:meeke...@verizon.net>
*To:* everything-list@googlegroups.com
<mailto:everything-list@googlegroups.com>
*Sent:* Friday, January 9, 2015 12:25 PM
*Subject:* Re: Democracy
On 1/9/2015 4:55 AM, Telmo Menezes wrote:
Money becomes coercive under statism, because it becomes illegal to use
alternative currencies, operate outside of the banking and taxation system
and so on.
>>Banks used to issue their own script and in principle anyone could do it.
The trouble
with anarcho-capitalism is that there's nothing to prevent a group from
organizing, forming a "government", raising an army a conquering people
around
them. In fact that's exactly the arc of history. If you want anarchy you
can go
to Syria or Somalia right now.
What you describe is not the political philosophy of anarchy; what you
describe is
life under warlords, and the susceptibility of anarchy to such organized
groups of
thugs.
Functioning anarchy would require a level of individual ethics that does
not yet
exist (or at least is not widespread). Anarchy is vulnerable to being
destroyed by
thuggery and mayhem; no doubt about that; however it should not be confused
with
that heartless outcome.
>>Every form of government will work well with perfect people.
That is side-stepping the point that some forms of social organization
require a
much higher degree of civic involvement than others do.
Exactly, and anarchy that functions as well as constitutionally limited
democracy
would require angels.
This overestimates the importance of things written in a piece of paper and
underestimates the importance of social norms, culture and education.
The reason why I don't go and loot my neighbours is not because a piece of paper says I
can't, or even because I am afraid of the police. Remove this too things and I still
wouldn't do it. I suspect everyone participating in this discussion is the same. Why?
On the other hand, the Weimar constitution was powerless to stop the nazis, and the
American constitution appears powerless to stop the NSA.
And I think you underestimate it. It is something any citizen can point to as a norm.
Notice that everyone who complains about the NSA's invasion of privacy cites the
Constitution as evidence their complaint is justified. Without it they would have to give
a long argument based the prior abuses that the founding fathers used to to support the
right to privacy.
Brent
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