[SGVLUG] Help spread the word

[Dustin Laurence]

On Wed, Jun 20, 2007 at 09:33:20PM -0700, Sean O'Donnell wrote:

> >> Dustin Laurence <dustin at laurences.net> writes:
> > 
> > Sorry, while we probably agree on many specifics of personal freedom, I
> > do *not* share your theory of government.  In fact, I'm not permitted to
> > should I wish to, which I don't.
> > 
> 
> There are 3 types of participants: Willing, Unwilling, and Unwitting.
> 
> So, you're either a willing or (obviously not) an unwitting inmate, if
> you're unwilling to disassociate (or 'escape') from the control of, in
> this case, the political asylum.

Rather than try to consider where/whether I fit into your scheme, let me
just say that the concept that an individual can opt out is entirely
unworkable, and is no different in practice than having no government.
That was my point--the idea of individuals opting out is not even
tempting, because I know better.  I consider it neither ethical nor
legal to try such a thing; but it is certainly incumbent on every
citizen to attempt to affect their government for the better, to oppose
unethical laws or even disobey them if they conflict with fundamental
principles of morality, and even to resort to the final court of appeal
and revolt.  But even the last can only be to replace an unjust
government with a just one, not to eliminate governments.

No government is an impossible fantasy and always has been.  Nature
abhors a vacuum, and every attempt to not have a government simply
creates a very bad one.  The true result of anarchy is to create a
tyranny of the strongest, and as groups are always stronger than the
strongest individual the end is a government of whichever gang leader
had the most effective and ruthless gang.  The only thing that ever
works is to acknowledge that there will be a civil authority and try to
do a good job of it.  The default government is the warlord, not no
government, and the goal of political theory is to create a better
government than that of the warlord and not slip back there later.

That's why it's unethical to try to opt out individually--you are
helping to go back to the rule of the warlords.

Dustin

-- 
    "Intolerance?  The *truth* is intolerant." -- le Faux

The small binary attachment on every message I send is my PGP digital
signature, not a virus.  If you don't know what that is, you can ignore it.
If you do, my keyserver is pgp.mit.edu.
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