"Each day I walk out of my Minneapolis house..."

[NonEntity]

Harriet Barlow Wrote:Each day I walk out of my Minneapolis house into an atmosphere protected from pollution by the Clean Air Act. As I step onto a sidewalk that was built with tax dollars for everyone, my spirits are lifted by the beauty of my neighbors’ boulevard gardens. Trees planted by people who would never sit under them shade my walk. I listen to public radio, a nonprofit service broadcast over airwaves belonging to us all, as I stroll around a lake in the park, which was protected from shoreline development by civic-minded citizens in the nineteenth century. [it continues!...]

How can the power to create and the desire to build and contribute and share be so horribly conflated with violent subjugation?

I wonder if she bows beatifically towards the beauty of all of the dead brown bodies her humbly contributed tax dollars have rendered no longer sentient?

- NonJustShootMeNowEntity

[Jonathanr]

I guess you could turn up at her doorstep in black balaclavas and brandishing AK-47s requesting her donation to the latest civic program.

[Dionysus]

Brainless idiot whore.

Government Is Not Civilization, It Is Slavery

[notavoter]

She looks like a dingbat maroon. None please shoot me first

[eye2i2hear]

(03-07-2012 09:22 PM)Jonathanr Wrote:  I guess you could turn up at her doorstep in black balaclavas and brandishing AK-47s requesting her donation to the latest civic program.

And you'll do fine so long as your wearing The Good Seal Of Approval; aka The Stars & Stripes and your stinkin' Badges. They're mesmerizing & enchanting after all (to these types).

Dionysus Wrote:Government Is Not Civilization, It Is Slavery

Nicely done re-expression of some key points. I appreciate seeing talented guys honing those down into succinct expressions.
Most of the Comments are tastey too; tho one gave me a bit of pause and could seem a bit discouraging (except that there was no internet in that day!?):

commenters on STR article Wrote:

Quote:Man, did you hit the nail square on the head with this, "most men don't desire liberty, most only wish for a just master." May I quote you?

Quote:Suverans2, while I would love to claim that bit of wisdom as my own invention, ancient Roman historian Sallust must get the credit.

[WorBlux]

Governments tend to suck at preserving commons, thus pointing out the importance and need for commons is not exactly an argument for government.

[NonEntity]

(03-08-2012 11:21 AM)WorBlux Wrote:  Governments tend to suck at preserving commons, thus pointing out the importance and need for commons is not exactly an argument for government.

Good comment.

You know, the statists believe that government is the answer, the libertarians believe that private property is the answer, but in reality I think the idea expressed in THIS POST is more true.

Life is more art than science.

- NonE

[eye2i2hear]

(03-07-2012 08:28 PM)NonEntity Wrote:  

Harriet Barlow Wrote:... with tax dollars for everyone,

I wonder if that was one of those "Freudian Slips" showing? "Tax dollars for EVERYONE! Yippee, those dollars are EVERYONE's!"



("Barlow" rhymes with "Bar-ho"; reminds of The Bar low-lifes)

[NonEntity]

(03-08-2012 12:04 PM)eye2i2hear Wrote:  

(03-07-2012 08:28 PM)NonEntity Wrote:  

Harriet Barlow Wrote:... with tax dollars for everyone,

I wonder if that was one of those "Freudian Slips" showing? "Tax dollars for EVERYONE! Yippee, those dollars are EVERYONE's!"



("Barlow" rhymes with "Bar-ho"; reminds of The Bar low-lifes)

- NonEmmylou

[Dionysus]

(03-08-2012 07:14 AM)eye2i2hear Wrote:  

Dionysus Wrote:Government Is Not Civilization, It Is Slavery

Nicely done re-expression of some key points. I appreciate seeing talented guys honing those down into succinct expressions.

Quote:The most common argument against having an organized civilization without government is the notion that we are all somehow stupid, worthless savages who would not be able to figure out how to build a damn road if there wasn’t someone with a gun in our face every step of the way, telling us how, when and where to do it. But if people are stupid savages, and politicians are people, then isn’t the government made up of a bunch of stupid savages who can’t be trusted with a license to kill? Aren’t they just the same as us and even in many cases far worse than us?

With St. Patrick’s Day approaching... I just love corned beef and savage (actually, I don’t since I’m a diehard vegetarian, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity for an awful joke).

[NonEntity]

(03-08-2012 12:22 PM)Dionysus Wrote:  With St. Patrick’s Day approaching... I just love corned beef and savage (actually, I don’t since I’m a diehard vegetarian, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity for an awful joke).

Didn't you mean "corned humor?"

- NonE

[eye2i2hear]

(danged anarchists!!!)

One minor rub I have with it (apart with wishing, for "outside" sharing sake, the title was perhaps different) was a bit right out of the gate (first paragraph ends with)

Quote:This kind of conversation typically ends very quickly because both sides have completely different ideas of what the word “government” actually means...

While I can easily agree with this within the specified context, I find value in the expression "self government" i.e. self controlling, which lends readily to self restraint per a societal, civilized view. So is ALL "government" vile, nasty, "bad", and "evil"? I'd hope not, and thus say not. Otherwise, why, there's "ANARCHY!!". Again, let's hope! But on our own terms.
And thus similarly with the words religion and anarchy, I wish the popular contemporary sense of "government" wasn't perpetuated. At least give it a capital "Government", a general grammatical tool for making or drawing attention to distinction. I grasp the convenience factor. I just don't value (+) it so much, considering long-term communication/discourse.

It's like with the lip service given in The Declaration Of Independence (and some other similar documents) viz "consent of the governed". Thus an agreement with others often known as a contract, is a form of self, thus logically consistent, government i.e. the terms and conditions of self restraint. Insurance companies, for example, are delegated or authorized on one's behalf regarding accidents. Similarly, security companies, etc. [agreements regarding self restraint/self governance/voluntary society can of course be merely, perhaps even mostly, verbal viz actions speak louder than words, or such]

Lastly, and much in parallel with my recent appeals to the use of the necessary qualifier regarding the word religion, it's possible referring to The Nation/State/County/City forms as something like Illegitimate Government, might be a practical step in bridging that communication divide noted by the author? (we can get around to examining practical, genuine government ala self control after crossing over that verbal bridge?) I mean, folks generally agree already to some degree that there is Illegitimate Government, now, no?

--NonGovernment2i2selfgovernmeant

*[by the term "necessary" I mean only in the sense of one desiring factual consistency]

[NonEntity]

(03-08-2012 01:34 PM)eye2i2hear Wrote:   (danged anarchists!!!)

One minor rub I have with it (apart with wishing, for "outside" sharing sake, the title was perhaps different)...

Okay, for the sake of political correctitudionousness, I cabitchewlated regarding your specific issue.

- NonE (to govern is to control) (to err is NonSpecialized)

[eye2i2hear]

(03-08-2012 01:43 PM)NonEntity Wrote:  Okay, for the sake of political correctitudionousness, I cabitchewlated regarding your specific issue.

- NonE (to govern is to control) (to err is NonSpecialized)

Control thy self.



(b'sides, Dio lobbed it over the plate for you, so it should have been "cabbitchewlated", cabbage patch beefhead)