From: Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@aeiveos.com)
Date: Sat Nov 09 2002 - 16:47:41 MST
On Sat, 9 Nov 2002 Dehede011@aol.com wrote:
> Additionally you might look at Hernando de Soto's The Mystery of
> Capital for other detailed examples of how the armed citizenry enforced their
> will against the desires of the politicians in the central government.
*But* that society was a lot simpler than ours is -- and one had many
more people willing to shoulder the burden of their own personal or
family safety.
I get a very nice report every year from the local Seattle government
regarding the public water quality (as required by Federal law) and
what they are doing to improve it.
Do *I* want to go testing my tap water every day (or go down to a
local stream (if I can find one since they are all buried), put
some of it into a bucket, then come back and boil it)?
I think not -- I want to delegate that to the government and empower
them (presumably with some tax dollars) to take that burden out of
my hands.
The degree to which our society can be productive in Science, esp.
medicine, nanotech, AI, etc. is tied to a large degree to the extent
that a large number of people can delegate their health and safety
concerns to people who are better trained in providing those
services for them. What part of "division of labor" don't you
folks (not specifically you Ron) understand?
There is a *big* difference between a government trying to force its
will upon the people (cited examples are presumably Stalin & Hitler)
and a government trying to respond to the concerns of the people,
e.g. the reaction (perhaps overreaction) of Western governments
to the environmental/green movements of the '70's.
Robert
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