Matt Gingell wrote:
> What I don't understand is why you're so much more afraid of big
government
> than big capital. What's the basis of this business good / government
> bad thing? It's all just power.
If a company want to oppress me, the worst thing it can do is refuse to sell
me something I want. If a government wants to oppress me, the worst thing it
can do is send men with guns to my house to murder me. That's a big
difference.
People who live in liberal democracies tend to forget about the violent
basis of government power, because it is usually hidden beneath a veil of
civility and bland legalisms. But that doesn't mean it isn't there.
Democratic governments kill their citizens all the time (just ask a drug
dealer). Usually they direct their violence against 'criminals', which is
what makes them better than police states - but you have to remember that
the government gets to define who is and is not a 'criminal', and the only
real limit to what it can do is the willingness of the general public to
acquiesce.
Billy Brown
bbrown@transcient.com
http://www.transcient.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Jul 27 2000 - 14:09:13 MDT