Subject:
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Re: It IS about Taxation ;-) (Was Re: (Sub|Ob)jectivity and related case studies on .debate (...or is it just about taxation :-)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Mon, 25 Dec 2000 17:42:17 GMT
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Viewed:
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288 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Larry Pieniazek writes:
> This is the root of the question indeed. The conventional answer is that
> "legitimate governments govern with the consent of the governed".
For some more thoughts on what "consent of the governed" means, see this
reference I just stumbled across while reading up on something Chris W.
pointed me at...
http://members.aol.com/t0morrow/PolyJust.html
It ties in well with David Friedman's writings on how to have non statist
law systems.
For the record... While I may extoll the US govermental system as "better"
than other alternatives (and point out how the original principles are
better than what we have now), I can at the same time be critical of it.
Specifically, I deny that the US government has my consent to govern me. I
have not explicitly granted it, and I have no alternatives to choose among,
there is not a free market in governments in effect. There is no government
extant on the face of the planet that I would give that consent to, as they
are all statist. Further, the extant governments have ensured that no new
government can arise in previously unclaimed areas.
I choose to "go along" with one of the better governments on the planet,
flawed as it is. That is not the same as "giving consent".
I choose to work for change in the government I have, despite the process
that I work under being seriously unfair, disenfranchising, and
fundamentally flawed, rather than taking up arms in rebellion. I do so
because I think working for peaceful change is "easier" than fighting in the
streets. That does not grant sanction to the process that has stripped me of
my rights.
Think about the implications of that before you (in general) suggest that I
have implicitly granted my consent, or say that you're not using force in
getting me to go along. I haven't granted it, and you *are* forcing me.
++Lar
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