Limits of State Power
POSTED BY: SergeantX
UPDATED: Sunday, December 14, 2025 21:53
VIEWED: 37205
PAGE 3 of 36
Quote:Okay, so a representative that handles mundane things, like where to put a stop sign & stuff.
Originally posted by SergeantX:
Might wanna think that one through a bit more. Unless you wanna spend the rest of your days just voting.
The laughing Chrisisall
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I think you're overly focusing on government aspects of power. But I'll answer your question on my next break.
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We should have strapped him into a glider, filled it nose heavy w/ explosives, and dropped his Allah lovin' ass into a large, empty field. After which, release wild boars into the area so they could make good use of his remains. Now THAT's justice.- rappy
Yeah, that's what Sheikh Issa said. Seems you both have a lot in common.- signy
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Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:
I think you're overly focusing on government aspects of power. But I'll answer your question on my next break.
Thanks, I see you started along those lines with your last post.
I'm not sure how to address your view that government power and economic power are equivalent. In our society we give government the exclusive right to use force to achieve their ends - ie, they've got the guns. Fox may be able to cancel our favorite TV show, but they can't put us in jail for bitching about it.
We've discussed before the inequities encoded in corporate law, and I think we both agree that those can be addressed by simply removing the legal perks they currently enjoy. But I'm pretty sure you see a general role for the government in making sure financial success isn't the determining factor in the level of freedom and personal power a person can exercise.
I was thinking about this in the other thread: You agreed with me, that government shouldn't be able to determine where we live, what we do for a living, whom we marry, or how many kids we can have. But I think you'd also say that those things shouldn't be determined by how much money we have, that kids shouldn't have to go without because their parents are poor, that poor people shouldn't be excluded from nice schools and nice neighborhoods due to lack of money, that we shouldn't be denied a career of our choice due to lack of money.
Well, how do those work for everyone at the same time? What if everyone (or, more realistically, way more than is practical) want's to live in a beach house in Souther Cal? If money isn't at issue, surely every parent will want their children to go to the very best schools, the very best doctors, and have the best daycare. Obviously, everyone can't have everything. The question is, if wealth isn't the determining factor, and government isn't making these selections, who makes the call?
(gone for a bit as well)
SergeantX
"Dream a little dream or you can live a little dream. I'd rather live it, cause dreamers always chase but never get it." Aesop Rock
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My concept ?
Zero.
Unless and until specifically requested, specifically funded, and specifically authorized by a mandatory vote that MUST be unanimous, it has NO power, and in the former case, only the power to do that ONE SINGLE THING.
Think of it as the difference between a circular saw in your hand, that you turned on, used to cut one piece of wood, and then turned off and put away - versus that same circular saw running wild and amuck in your house, destroying everything in sight.
-Frem
It cannot be said enough, those who do not learn from history, are doomed to endlessly repeat it
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Quote:They DO hire goon squads yanno. And they can break you- financially- and kill you by witholding medical care. The peeps in Africa are a great example of how you can be broken economically.
Fox may be able to cancel our favorite TV show, but they can't put us in jail for bitching about it.
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We should have strapped him into a glider, filled it nose heavy w/ explosives, and dropped his Allah lovin' ass into a large, empty field. After which, release wild boars into the area so they could make good use of his remains. Now THAT's justice.- rappy
Yeah, that's what Sheikh Issa said. Seems you both have a lot in common.- signy
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Quote:
What would you consider off-limits for the state, and more importantly, why?
Interference with any activity one does with one's body, so long as that activity does not interfere with the rights of others to do likewise. This includes things like drug use of any sort, prostitution, euthanasia, and abortion, as well as speech, etc., and prohibits things like the death penalty.
Neither should individual people, non-governmental groups, or governmental groups (when one is outside its jurisdiction) be able to interfere with a person's right to their body, and the state should have the power to protect against that.
Why? Because the right to control our own bodies is, essentially, the right to control our selves, and to not be able to control one's self is a chilling thought. I'm not sure I can explain that in any greater detail.
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Damn. I just hate it when a thread takes off and I need to do a lot of catching up ...
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Silence is consent.
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Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:
They DO hire goon squads yanno. And they can break you- financially- and kill you by witholding medical care. The peeps in Africa are a great example of how you can be broken economically.
Goons squads happen, but they are already illegal, and the exception rather than the rule. You know my position on readily available health care (unfortunately, it's also illegal)
The peeps in Africa are hardly under the jurisdiction our our domestic policy - though I grant you our foreign policy has fucked them royal.
SergeantX
"Dream a little dream or you can live a little dream. I'd rather live it, cause dreamers always chase but never get it." Aesop Rock
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If you and your family are starving you may as well be a slave.
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We should have strapped him into a glider, filled it nose heavy w/ explosives, and dropped his Allah lovin' ass into a large, empty field. After which, release wild boars into the area so they could make good use of his remains. Now THAT's justice.- rappy
Yeah, that's what Sheikh Issa said. Seems you both have a lot in common.- signy
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Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:
If you and your family are starving you may as well be a slave.
Nope.
SergeantX
"Dream a little dream or you can live a little dream. I'd rather live it, cause dreamers always chase but never get it." Aesop Rock
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