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ch-scene - Re: Off topic talk of..How'd my man do?

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  • From: Chris Rossi <rossi AT webslingerZ.com>
  • To: RTP-area local music and culture <ch-scene AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: Off topic talk of..How'd my man do?
  • Date: Thu, 07 Oct 2004 16:20:04 -0400

rcu AT duke.edu wrote:


Well I believe I mentioned that it wasn't private security guards
who kidnapped me and stole my car and guns. It was cops, claiming to
be acting in your name. Are you opposed on principle to bossing people
around at gunpoint, or is it okay as long as it's your guys doing the
bossing?

I think it's obvious that whenever any person is granted authority, there need to be checks on that authority. We can't not have police, but we also can't allow police to boss people around at gun point. There's no panacea, and there are always going to be problems. I just don't see how privatizing the police force would fix those problems. If anything it would make those guys less accountable and therefore more likely to abuse their power. Like in the Pinkerton days.


I think there was more than a little forcible govt manipulation of
money markets in the decade leading up to that. And a decade of FDR
socialism afterwards left the economy still Depressed.

I thought it left us with the strongest middle class in the history of the US.



A free man should be made to pay for the harm he causes to other people
(and their property), but otherwise should be left alone. Paying fines
and going to jail are not things that peaceful honest people should have
to do.
>
How is a free man "made to pay" if not through a fine? In acknowledging someone should be "made to pay", you seem to be saying that, unfortunately, some degree of coercion is necessary for a society to function. I agree with that, as much as I would like not to. If people just wouldn't do bad things to other people we could all be anarchists.

Your life belongs to you and the good is to live it as you best
see fit. Your only obligation to me is to see fit well enough not to
infringe my equal right to live my life as best I see fit.

That's hard to disagree with on principle. I just think the libertarian platform sometimes interprets that in a way that doesn't leave room for collective, democratic decision making.


like it or not, a democratic government is the best place to mediate
that give and take and make decisions that affect lots of people, not
just one person.


We don't have democratic government now,
>
I agree with that.

and only the Libertarians are
working to restore it.
>
I disagree that libertarians have a monopoly on attempting to restore democracy. There are a whole host of people inspired by Howard Dean to get more directly involved with the democratic party to make it more, well, democratic. A lot of people who wouldn't have thought of getting directly involved in politics 4 years ago are now getting involved. Unfortunately, democracy is in a crisis because people stopped participating. As bad as Bush and company have been, they have inspired people to become more active in the democratic process and work to steer the country away from the cliff we seem to be heading towards.

The demopublicans have openly falsified the
vote tallies since their 1987 ban on write-in voting, and now they are
openly doing away with the paper trail with the new voting machines and
their unrecountable electrons.

I don't know anyone with a brain who supports paperless voting. Democrats have been instrumental in getting those machines disallowed in several places, including the entire state of California, but I'm still pretty worried about the number that are still out there.

I do wish our legislature more accurately mirrored the viewpoints of the electorate. If Libertarians are 5% of the vote, a system of proportional representation like many other western democracies have would give Libertarians 5% of the seats in Congress, which is a lot more democratic than the 0% they get now. Just because I disagree with the Libertarian platform doesn't mean I think Libertarians should be excluded from the political arena. I agree with you that debates should be more open to third party candidates.

Nice to have you over last night.

Nice to be over last night. I had a great time.

thanks
rossi




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