From: John K Clark (johnkc@well.com)
Date: Sun Jan 05 1997 - 20:50:09 MST
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QueeneMUSE@aol.com On Sun, 5 Jan 1997 Wrote:
>John:
>You used the word "agree" so it can't be socialistic.
>Socialism is when I say "Build a house for me or give me
>money to do so, if you don't then men carrying automatic
>weapons will knock down your door and drag you away".
>QueeneMUSE
>you are describing totalitarian communism and not the most
>common forms of socialism in effect in today's government.
Today's government decides it would be altruistic to build somebody a house
for free, the tax man comes to me and asks me for the money to do so,
I politely tell the tax gentleman that I don't think that is a productive
form of altruism and don't wish to contribute to it, the tax man goes away and
nothing happens for the next several weeks except my snail mail increases,
I get a lot of certified letters, and brown envelopes marked "Official U.S.
Government Business". After a month or two a man wearing a suite will knock
on my door and tell me that because of my failure to pay back taxes my house
now belongs to the U.S. Government and I have 20 minutes to leave the area.
I tell the nice man that I like my house and don't intend to leave. After an
hour or two several clean cut young men wearing body armor and carrying
submachine guns from the SWAT team knock down my door.
In the real world things seldom go to that extreme, but only because most
people don't have a death wish. Everyone knows that they will not take "no"
for an answer, the government will make you an offer you can't refuse, pay
the tribute, go to jail, or die. Unlike corporations, government could not
exist without violence, the fact that it is usually implied does not make it
less distasteful. If I put a gun to your head and say "give me your wallet",
I think you would say you were robbed of your money by violence , even if I
never pulled the trigger.
>many voluntary socialized conditions do exist even today.
Agreed. I should have said it can't be a socialist government, or more simply,
it can't be a government, nothing voluntary about them. As you may have
guessed, I don't like government much, yet every year I give nearly half of
my income to this organization, and if they tell me they want even more I'll
give them that too. Why? Because there is not a drop of heroic blood in me
and I know that unless I submit to my masters at some point, the chain of
cause and event will invariably lead to my death.
>what can be voted in, can usualy be voted out. Look at France.
My opinion of elections is nearly as low as my opinion of Governments.
John K Clark johnkc@well.com
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