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Back in the race.
12 years ago
Karno's Rare-Because-He-Never-Has-Time Blather:
....Rat race? Heh. Yep, I'm back from camping, desperately trying to catch up on the dozen projects I'm trying to do at once. Meanwhile, I found a quote by Allen Thornton that pretty much sums up the present state of my political philosopy:
"To understand ungovernability, imagine a cult with a dictatorial leader. He takes his followers' money, tells them how to behave and frequently uses corporal punishment to keep them in line. The cult leader has his own set of laws and his own police force. Such an organization resembles a theoretically good government deriving its "just power from the consent of governed."
Let's say that you, as a cult member, became disillusioned with the leader but were intimidated by the reprisals his guards might take against you. You could band together with others of the same opinion, kill the leader, and overpower his guards. Then you could reform the cult and make yourself the new leader. This course of action is analogous to a revolution.
But maybe you have a revelation of the cult as outsiders see it: a band of fools who believe ridiculous doctrines and are led by a maniac. You'd walk away in disgust. You'd still fear the guards, the cult's police force, but your attitude would have changed. What you had seen as legitimate force would now appear as criminal activity, and you would not be inhibited from striking back however you could. From the cult's point of view, you would have become an anarchist."
Well said. For many more such thoughts to ponder on, should you be capable of pondering, check out http://radicallibertarian.com/jlaws.html
I'm not really an Anarchist myself: I believe that citizens who are self-aware and intelligent enough to rule themselves are still a small minority. Most people are too stupid to survive without a firm hand leading them to the water-hole or feed trough. They love that firm hand. They WANT to be led, to be owned. If politicians won't provide the reassuring feel of the whip on their backs, they'll turn to religio-nutters, new-age con men, anybody willing to tell them what to do. And there's never a shortage of those fellas.
But I don't want to be one of them: Neither a boss or a slave. I want to be left alone to mind my own business, as long as it harms no-one. And I don't believe my habit of drawing silly cartoons harms anybody.
So if anyone here has any ideas about how to avoid the attentions of violent thugs, be they freelance or government-paid, I would love to hear them.
"To understand ungovernability, imagine a cult with a dictatorial leader. He takes his followers' money, tells them how to behave and frequently uses corporal punishment to keep them in line. The cult leader has his own set of laws and his own police force. Such an organization resembles a theoretically good government deriving its "just power from the consent of governed."
Let's say that you, as a cult member, became disillusioned with the leader but were intimidated by the reprisals his guards might take against you. You could band together with others of the same opinion, kill the leader, and overpower his guards. Then you could reform the cult and make yourself the new leader. This course of action is analogous to a revolution.
But maybe you have a revelation of the cult as outsiders see it: a band of fools who believe ridiculous doctrines and are led by a maniac. You'd walk away in disgust. You'd still fear the guards, the cult's police force, but your attitude would have changed. What you had seen as legitimate force would now appear as criminal activity, and you would not be inhibited from striking back however you could. From the cult's point of view, you would have become an anarchist."
Well said. For many more such thoughts to ponder on, should you be capable of pondering, check out http://radicallibertarian.com/jlaws.html
I'm not really an Anarchist myself: I believe that citizens who are self-aware and intelligent enough to rule themselves are still a small minority. Most people are too stupid to survive without a firm hand leading them to the water-hole or feed trough. They love that firm hand. They WANT to be led, to be owned. If politicians won't provide the reassuring feel of the whip on their backs, they'll turn to religio-nutters, new-age con men, anybody willing to tell them what to do. And there's never a shortage of those fellas.
But I don't want to be one of them: Neither a boss or a slave. I want to be left alone to mind my own business, as long as it harms no-one. And I don't believe my habit of drawing silly cartoons harms anybody.
So if anyone here has any ideas about how to avoid the attentions of violent thugs, be they freelance or government-paid, I would love to hear them.
When that framework breaks down (as in anarchy), you're back to having a backstock, and counting on it being actually worth something to somebody somewhere. A barter economy more than a labor promissory note economy, depends on you being able to find people with exactly what you want who are willing to trade for what you have, at hopefully an equitable rate. That might work in some tribal settings, but who is hoarding all of the internet for trade? How do I get a backstock of electrons, or how much art can I trade for cellular and satellite time? I mean, a guy who launches rockets only has so much budget for art, and heaven forfend he doesn't have a taste for mine.
Some folks forget the stability we have, that allows an economy to exist at all in its current state and for their items to have value, does come at a price - usually taxes. We pay protection money to a group of individuals who are power hungry, but who in exchange have to tell us where they live.
As corrupt as it seems, our government is subject to societal whim more than many others, and our constitution nominally is there to prevent the tyranny of the majority. When it all works. But it's a muddy, horrifying framework built on volunteerism, where you get not the most qualified but the most hungry for the authority who push hardest for the jobs. Not all police are messed up, but there are a few who like the idea of power who screw it up for the rest. The only thing worse is the shadow government that consists of self elected captains of industry who forget that however much they might fantasize it is so, they are in no way self made. And even less fit to govern others.
The lone survivalist only works if he's supported by a society he is rejecting.
For the non Celt, its means NIETHER COLLAR, NOR CROWN!
We do not bow to kings nor do we wear their chains, we do not enslave, we set free.
Government becomes the antithesis of this. It always reverts to wrongdoing, thus, we should change governments the way we change diapers, often, and for the same reasons.
(stuff it, babyfurs, this is allegorical).
A true libertarian society would mean freedom for everyone. Of course, that freedom includes the freedom to starve. Literally and allegorically. The difficulty is that such a society would have to be grown from our current society, and the powers-that-be, and the vast majority of the sheeple, would object strenuously and probably violently.
Plus, it would probably take at lest a hundred years to grow such a society. Possibly much longer.
One little detail I'd love to have, from such a society, would be a choice on the ballot of None-Of-The-Above, or NOTA. That would scare the pants off of any current politician. Because if NOTA wins the election, NOTA serves the term of office. Can you hear the screams of outrage? What a wonderful sound.
I'm just a grumpy old man who's been made more than a little cynical by the various types of incompetents and idiots inside the Beltway. Been voting for over 40 years, and I have yet to vote for anybody. I've always voted against the other guy.
I haven't been called a curmudgeon yet, but it's coming.
But yeah... we are not there yet. Hopefully we can reach such a point sometime.