X-Message-Number: 17224 Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2001 09:05:48 -0400 From: Wesley Eddy <> Subject: Re: anarchy is bad? --pfTAc8Cvt8L6I27a Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Gary Tripp <> wrote: > Why should anarchy necessarily be a bad thing? > History is replete with examples that demonstrate the fact that central > authority has, more often than not, been a most prolific source of evil. "Evil" is relative. Many people would consider unnaturally extending ones life through cryonics to be evil. On the contrary, government more often than not has raised standards of living and education levels. There have never been any great civilizations who were without government. > Witness the demise of communism and the rise of free market reforms > throughout the world. These are good proxies for central authority vs > anarchy. Morally speaking, what group of individuals has the right to tell > me how to conduct my own affairs as long as I don't encroach upon the > freedom of others. Ah, but what does that mean? By driving my car with no catalytic converter and polluting the limited supply of air others have to breath, do I encroach on their freedom? By operating motor vehicles while heavily intoxicated, and threatening the lives of everyone on the road, does a drunk driver encroach on their freedom? If the answer is "yes" to questions like these, which it is, then you must have some body to create laws to define what encroaches on people's "freedom" and then of course a body to enforce those laws, and one to punish offenders, and of course none of these people will work for free, so you need to levy taxes to support them, and on and on for a while, until finally you're left with the present US government. The founding fathers thought pretty hard about preserving your "freedom". -Wes - "I can't see too well, what's it all about? I don't know man, did you poke your eyes out?" -Angry Samoans, "Lights Out" --pfTAc8Cvt8L6I27a Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.0.4 (SunOS) Comment: For info see http://www.gnupg.org iD8DBQE7cTkrzBuYqbnj3IwRAm/rAJ9rRtM9cYeLT8JV6g0P78lNjz7NYACginlU 9UBw8nVqRrH//62u4kw/tx8=a/p6 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --pfTAc8Cvt8L6I27a-- Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=17224