From: Harvey Newstrom (mail@HarveyNewstrom.com)
Date: Fri May 25 2001 - 09:46:04 MDT
J. R. Molloy wrote,
> Yes, I see your point. Isn't one group enforcing their will onto
> another group
> what the Democrats and Socialists and Big Government are all
> about.
True. But I also believe that Republicans, the Religious Right and
Conservatism are also about enforcing their will onto another group. I'm
not sure why people tend to promote one side or the other as being more
pro-freedom. As far as I can tell, they both try to control me to follow
their agenda instead of letting me be free to choose my own way. Although
this always feels better if the powers that be are closer in agreement to
your own viewpoints, the loss of freedom is just as real.
The Right promotes the Christian religion while the Left promotes the
new-age Gaia/Nature religion. The right blocks freedom of speech about
sexual issues while the Left blocks freedom of speech about politically
incorrect issues. The Right wants to control your body as far as sexual
orientation, drugs or reproduction is concerned, while the Left wants to
control your body as far as self-defense. The Right pushes the NRA and Big
Oil rhetoric while the Left pushes psychobabble and social agendas. The
Right wants to change our laws to promote isolationism, while the Left wants
to change our laws to promote the New World Order. The Right wants to open
borders to business and close borders to immigrants, while the Left wants to
open borders to immigrants and close borders to business. The Right wants
to increase budgets for the military sector while the left wants to increase
budgets for social programs. The Right wants to cut taxes in ways that
might be skewed toward the rich while the Left wants to cut taxes in ways
that might be skewed toward the poor.
I don't see any difference in tactics, attitudes or power grabs. Both major
American Parties are using the same underhanded tactics to take away freedom
from individuals. The both are trying to manipulate the system in the same
way for the same agendas. They just have different backers and lobbyists
promoting for different beneficiaries at the expense of personal freedom.
> So, if you
> don't want your Visual Basic automatically updated and debugged
> by Mr. Bill,
> then try a different computer language that any number of list
> members may
> prescribe
I do. As a security consultant, I help my clients block Microsoft
interference to their internal operations, just as I try to block hackers,
disgruntled employees, industrial spies, and anybody else who would tries to
override corporate operations from the outside.
> I heartily accept the motto, -- "That government is best which governs
> least"; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and
> systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I
> believe, -- "That government is best which governs not at all";
> and when men
> are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will
> have. -- Henry David Thoreau
>
I know that most people think the Republicans are for less government than
the Democrats, but I humbly disagree. For the specific goals of gay rights,
drug rights (recreational drugs, smart drugs, life-extension drugs),
abortion rights, atheist rights, artistic expression rights, rights to
discuss/view sexual materials, etc., I see the Republicans as pushing Big
Brother Government control over my personal freedoms as much as the
Democrats stomp on other freedom issues. Neither side is more pro-freedom
or pro-personal-rights. They each just have a different list of rights they
will allow and disallow. I wouldn't trust either side to make my personal
decisions for me.
-- Harvey Newstrom <http://HarveyNewstrom.com> <http://Newstaff.com>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 08:07:48 MST