16.5.1. Technology is dramatically altering the nature of
governments.
- It may sound like newage trendiness, but strong crypto is
"technological empowerment." It literally gives power to
individuals. Like Sam Colt, it makes them equal.
- "Politics has never given anyone lasting freedom, and it
never will. Anything gained through politics will be lost
again as soon as the society feels threatened. If most
Americans have never been oppressed by the government
(aside from an annual mugging) it is because most of them
have never done anything to threaten the government's
interests." [Mike Ingle, 1994-01-01]
+ Thesis: Strong crypto is a good thing
- tool against governments of all flavors, left and right
- religious freedom
- personal choice
16.5.2. Dangers of democracy in general and electronic democracy in
particular
- mob rule, rights of minority ignored
- too many things get decided by vote that have no business
being voted on
- "don't tax me...", De Tocqueville's warning
+ electronic democracy is even worse
- moves further from republican, representative system to
electronc mob rule
- too rapid a system
- Detweiler's "electrocrasy" (spelling?)...brain-damaged,
poorly thought-out
16.5.3. The collapse of democracy is predicted by many
+ the "tipping factor" exceeded, with real taxation rates at
50% or more in most developed countries, with conditions of
"taxation without representation" far beyond anything in
American colonial times
- with professional politicians...and mostly millionaires
running for office
- the Cincinnatus (sp?) approach of going into government
just for a few years, then returning to the farm or
business, is a joke
+ rise of nominalism [argued by James Donald]
- "After Athenian democracy self destructed, the various
warring parties found that they could only have peace if
they disowned omnipotent government. They put together a
peace agreement that in part proclaimed limits to
government, in part acknowledged inherent limits to what
was proper for governments to do and in part guaranteed
that the government would not go beyond what it was
proper for government to do, that the majority could not
do as it pleased with the minority, that not any act of
power was a law, that law was not merely whatever the
government willed.
They did not agree on a constitution but agreed to
respect an unwritten constitution that already existed in
some sense.
A similar arrangement underlies the American constitution
(now defunct) and the English declaration of right (also
defunct)
The problem with such formal peace agreements is that
they can only be put together after government has
substantially collapsed. Some of us wish to try other
possibilities in the event of collapse.
The American constitution collapsed because of the rise
of nominalist theories "The constitution says whatever
the courts say that it says." [James Donald, 1994-08-31]
- War on Drugs, conspiracy charges, random searches,
emergency preparedness orders (Operation Vampire Killer,
Operation Night Train, REX-84). The killings of more than a
dozen reporters and tipsters over the past decade, many of
them covering the Iran-Contra story, the drug deals, the
CIA's dealings...the Farm appears to be "swamping" more and
more of these troublemakers in the headlong march toward
fascism.
+ De Tocqueville's warning that the American experiment in
democracy would last only until voters discovered they
could pick the pockets of others at the ballot box
- a point reached about 60 years ago
- (prior to the federal income tax and then the "New Deal,"
there were systemic limitations on this ability to the
pockets of others, despite populist yearnings by
some....after the New Deal, and the Great Society, the
modern era of runaway taxation commenced.)
16.5.4. Depredations of the State
+ "Discrimination laws"..choice no longer allowed
- the strip club in LA forced to install wheelchair access-
-for the dancers!
- age no longer allowed to be a factor...gag!
+ democracy run rampant....worst fears of Founders
- votes on everything...
- gun control, seizures, using zoning laws (with FFL
inspections as informants)
- welfare state,...Murray, inner cities made worse...theft
- "currency export" laws...how absurd that governments
attempt to control what folks do with their own money!
16.5.5. Things are likely to get worse, financially (a negative
view,though there are also reasons to be optimistic)
+ a welfare state that is careening toward the edge of a
cliff...escalating spending, constantly increasing national
debt (with no signs that it will ever be paid down)
- pension burdens are rising dramatically, according to
"Economist", 1994-08.
- the link to crypto is that folks had better find ways to
immunize themselves from the coming crunch
+ Social Security, other pension plans are set to take 30-40%
of all GDP
- too many promies, people living longer
- estimate: $20 trillion in "unfunded liabilities"
- health care expectations... growing national debt
16.5.6. Borders are becoming transparent to data...terabytes a day
are flowing across borders, with thousands of data formats
and virtually indistinguishable from other messages.
Compressed files, split files, images, sounds, proprietary
encryption formats, etc. Once can _almost_ pity the NSA in
the hopelessness of their job.
By Tim May, see README
HTML by Jonathan Rochkind