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Do you at least acknowledge the reality of how laughable your “natural right” to resist would look against even a minute fraction of the state’s power?
by QAPereo 9y ago
Do you at least acknowledge the reality of how laughable your “natural right” to resist would look against even a minute fraction of the state’s power?
- sounds 9y agoHere in this nation of the United States, we claim that the state derives its power from the consent of the governed. It's a novel concept, really. Obviously, if you like the idea of a powerful nation-state, you can try any number of other experiments, elsewhere. Those nations do not even try to veneer their actions with the consent of their populace.
- QAPereo 9y agoI think you’re taking my acknowledgement of reality to be an endorsement of it. You can’t hope to change anything if you’re living in a fantasy. The reality is that the government of “this here nation” can roll over you like you never existed. Want that to change? I do.
- sounds 9y agoSorry, I was responding to your assessment of the situation as "laughable." I'm not laughing. Neither are you, right?
- beat 9y ago"Consent of the governed" means consent of society in general, not the consent of every individual to every action of the State. Society has long been okay with eminent domain. When things become unacceptable, we can elect legislators to change the laws and make them acceptable again. I don't hear a cry to end eminent domain in our elections, or see anyone in Congress making any effort in that direction. That's consent of the governed.
- sounds 9y agoSome people in society (generally those doing the taking) have long supported eminent domain. Eminent domain nevertheless has not been "long okay," it has been hotly contested in every case. That doesn't sound like "society is okay with it," unless you were on the take.
- beat 9y agoOf course it's hotly contested. It involves taking property against the wishes of the property owner. But it's not contested by society in general, but rather those on the pointy end of the stick - many of whom are perfectly happy with the results of previous eminent domains (ie highways). One could say society in general is "on the take". Which gets back to my contention that your "property" is yours only by the consent of everyone else.
- sounds 9y agoBut I do not say society in general is "on the take." I'm saying you are, which is why you contest that my property is not mine. That's a pretty narrow, twisty way of defining property, and it's not upheld by US case law.
- Cyberdog 9y ago> Do you at least acknowledge the reality of how laughable your “natural right” to resist would look against even a minute fraction of the state’s power? Acknowledge? Yes. We gave them all the guns. Accept? Consent to? Absolutely not. I despise the status quo and want to see my children grow up in a more free society than what we're living in now. Unfortunately things have consistently gone in the wrong direction and I seem to be in the minority of people not okay with that, but I'll still do what I can as one man.
- QAPereo 9y agoWhat you can do as one man is precisely nothing, except to make yourself feel a bit better. Caring in the absence of organizing and acting, is that really caring? At the very least our priorities are made clear by our actions and not our attitudes.