Date sent: Mon, 14 Dec 1998 11:36:31 -0800 (PST) From: Terry Donaghe <tdonaghe@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: A Libertarian Army? To: extropians@extropy.com Send reply to: extropians@extropy.com
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> ---den Otter <neosapient@geocities.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> > ----------
> > > From: John Clark <jonkc@worldnet.att.net>
> >
> > > How can I guarantee that this voluntary army won't switch from
> being a
> > > protector to being an oppressor? I can't. I can't give you an iron
> clad
> > > guarantee that the US Army wont overthrow the government and set
> up a
> > > military dictatorship either. They certainly have the means to do
> so if
> > they
> > > wished to. I don't think that's very likely to happen, but it's
> far more
> > > likely than the sort of army I'm talking about doing it. The
> instant a
> > > voluntary army starts acting in a totalitarian way, shut off it's
> money
> > > supply and stop its cancerous growth in the bud. That is a
> powerful tool
> > that
> > > we don't have today, with the US. Army you are forced to keep
> sending it
> > > money even if you hate what it's doing.
> >
> > If you cut off your private army's funds they'll do exactly what
> every
> > other pissed-off private army did before them: they'll come and take
> > it by force (perhaps shooting you, torching your home and raping
> > your wife, kids and dog if they feel like it). An army that's
> intended
> > to take on PPAs and even nation states shouldn't have much of a
> > problem with coercing a couple of civilians.
>
>
> Is that what the American Revolutionary army did when they were broke?
> I don't think so. Did the Confederate Army rape and pillage their
> own people because they couldn't afford to pay them well? I don't
> think so.
>
But they weren't Hessians (hired mercernaries). BTW, there was
almost a military coup of the fledgling U.S. gov't by it's military when
Congress threatened to cut their promised pensions. In the end,
Congress backed down (as they should have). Joe
>
> ==
> Terry Donaghe: terry@donaghe.com
> Individual, Anarcho-Capitalist, Environmentalist, Transhumanist, Mensan
>
> My Homepage: <http://www.donaghe.com/terry.htm>
>
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>
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