Reply To: GreenGestalt…
I really think you should go back and reread "1984" particularly the appendix which deals with New Speak. Through the Ministry of Truth the State in the novel seeks to make 'all other modes of thought impossible' there by utterly controlling the people! Even without a 'Ministry of Truth' we as a nation are almost there! Just turn on the TV and listen to the morons: half of them can't complete a sentence with out saying 'uh...um...you know...like' or some other such mindless drivel because they simply do not have the vocabulary to speak intelligently enough to actually say what they mean!!! You propose to 'go there' so-to-speak as a deliberate act...? I love Big Brother too and he is watching us on the big TV in Room 101...
JLM, you hold that Political Systems and Market Economies are opposites and that they do not work hand in glove as I claim. OK, give one example of when they have not.
Since we're dealing in theories here's a theoretical problem from the world of Seasteading: We have a large Seastead where the so-called 'Captain' may be overruled by a simple majority rule vote (51/49). The Seastead has been at sea for several years and needs to be hauled out or healed over to have its bottom scraped. The residents, on the other hand, have voted to put in a new, bigger water maker so that they can take long, luxurious fresh water baths and showers. Time passes. The seastead now has a crust on it that resembles the Exxon Valdez in 'Water World' and can barely make headway much less maneuver. A storm hits, it is swamped and sinks with great loss of life.
Under the Republic, I'm not sad to say, this could happen because the Republic is not a Dictatorship. It's highly unlikely, but it could happen. There would be no recourse to the law. The residents lawfully voted to do what they did and chose of their own free will to remain there! Victimless offences are unlawful ie., if there is no victim, there is no offence and what you choose to do to yourself is your problem! The only victims would have been dependent children or adults who, being dependents, were unable to take independent action to save themselves. If they lived, who would they seek restitution from? Certainly not the dead. The insurance company who would have doubtlessly dropped coverage? Not likely. Under the Republic, if something like this were to happen, however unlikely, the survivors would be taken in and given succor as would be expected according to the Social Contract of the Sea, International Law and the Laws of Nations.
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