At 04:13 PM 19/07/2001 -0500, Greg Burch wrote:
>A quick note on your post, Miriam. The conditions you describe in the
>Phillipines have little or nothing to do with capitalism and much to do
>with an utter absence of the rule of law and webs of social trust.
Yes, I agree. But that was why I posted it. It was meant as an example of
how how scary things get if the government doesn't enforce the law: it
degenerates to private companies and powerful families enforcing their own
brand of law. And that is much worse.
> Even the most strident anarcho-capitalists here do not advocate
> lawlessness or a social regime devoid of non-economic bonds of trust.
Actually, it seemed to me that it was exactly what they were recommending.
I understand that many others here don't though. :-)
Best wishes,
- Miriam
> >At 01:37 PM 18/07/2001 -0400, Mike Lorrey wrote:
> >>Tiberius Gracchus wrote:
> >> > flawed: with no govt, the rich/ the professional
> >> > associations/corporations/lobbyists will just buy squads of goons to
> >> > get their way.
> >
> >
> >>No, we don't expect a government to enforce law and order. I suggest you
> >>read David Friedman's "The Machinery of Freedom" first to get a more
> >>accurate perception of libertarian arguments. Most of what you are
> >>saying will go away.
> >
> >[groan... I was going to lessen my involvement in this thread]
> >
> >I don't expect that anything I say will affect you Mike, but here goes...
> >
> >I have a friend from the Phillipines. She told me about how things worked
> >
> >over there. It is slightly less of a problem now, but much of it still
>stands.
> >
> >The extremely rich have their own private armies. Most of the poor have
>
> >absolutely no chance of getting out of poverty to become more useful
> >members of society; they are born into slavery and will spend their lives
> >
> >that way. There were no controls upon the rich and powerful... there still
> >
> >are few.
> >
> >Again with the disclaimer: I don't think capitalism is bad. I think
> >excessive power too often leads to abuse of that power. One natural
> >outgrowth of capitalism is concentration of power into fewer and fewer
>
> >hands... just like most political systems. Use of capitalism as a
> >substitute religion encourages uncritical acceptance of such a fate.
> >
> > - Miriam
> >
> >
> >---------=---------=---------=---------=---------=---------=------
> >Q. What is the similarity between an elephant and a grape?
> >A. They are both purple... except for the elephant.
> >---------=---------=---------=---------=---------=---------=------
> >http://werple.net.au/~miriam
> >http://members.optushome.com.au/miriame
> >Virtual Reality Association http://www.vr.org.au
> >
> >
>
> Greg Burch gregburch@gregburch.net
> GBurch1@aol.com - gburch@lockeliddell.com
> Attorney::Vice President, Extropy Institute
> http://www.gregburch.net
> http://members.aol.com/gburch1
> "We never stop investigating. We are never
> satisfied that we know enough to get by.
> Every question we answer leads on to another
> question. This has become the greatest
> survival trick of our species."
> -- Desmond Morris
---------=---------=---------=---------=---------=---------=------
Q. What is the similarity between an elephant and a grape?
A. They are both purple... except for the elephant.
---------=---------=---------=---------=---------=---------=------
http://werple.net.au/~miriam
http://members.optushome.com.au/miriame
Virtual Reality Association http://www.vr.org.au
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