In a message dated Sun, 5 Nov 2000 9:47:02 AM Eastern Standard Time,
Dehede011@aol.com writes:
<< In a message dated 11/4/00 11:27:21 PM Pacific Standard Time,
zebharadon@hotmail.com writes:<< By "conditions" I mean one thing, the
attitudes of most of the people who live in this country. People want their
welfare and social security and they'd riot if they didn't get it. There are
also not enough people intelligent enough to manage all the new industries
that would come up as a result of government de-regulation. >>
Zeb, you are right up to a point. The point is that I believe that at some
future time, that seems to be arriving, the producers will be able to deny
the governments the economic power to dispense freebies in exchange for
votes.
Ron h.
>>
I'm not sure I understand. As long as the government retains a monopoly over
the application of force, nobody will be able to deny it anything. And isn't
"dispensing freebies in exchange for votes" just a demeaning way of saying
the government is acting in accordance to the wishes of its people? I've seen
some arguments advanced by the "encryption" school by which the ability to
maintain anonymity will prevent governments from taxing or otherwise imposing
their will on people. Personally, I think encryption will lose to the ability
to collect and decipher information. Whether this translates into more or
less freedom will depend on the applications of the new technologies.
As to people wanting some measure of protection from risk -- that's
inevitable, IMHO. Civilization and progress are the result of humankind's
efforts to escape the process of natural selection -- which is brutal and
painful. Social Security, for example, is a collective extension of the
family group/tribe/volk's desire to care for members of the group who no
longer have the physical ability to fend for themselves. The only way to
solve it, IMHO, is to cure old age -- a development that I believe will occur
in our lifetimes (which may be longer than we expect <G>).
CJC
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