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- Xref: sparky misc.legal:21654 talk.environment:5199 sci.environment:13802 alt.activism:19776
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- From: bschlesinger@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov (Barry Schlesinger)
- Subject: Re: Government to Grant Swift Endangered Species Act Protection to Hundreds of Imperiled Species
- Message-ID: <22DEC199213514739@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov>
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- References: <1992Dec17.060929.29376@r-node.gts.org> <BzEwJ2.71z@news.cso.uiuc.edu> <1992Dec18.182903.19389@ke4zv.uucp> <1992Dec21.153441.8780@ke4zv.uucp>
- Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 18:51:00 GMT
- Lines: 30
-
- In article <1992Dec21.153441.8780@ke4zv.uucp>, gary@ke4zv.UUCP (Gary Coffman) writes...
- >
- >I agree that one of the more discouraging aspects of libertarian
- >philosophy is the tendency to run to court on the slightest provocation,
- >similar to liberal greenies in that respect. I do think that property
- >rights are a proper basis for dealing with most economic and environmental
- >issues, but rights are abstract things that are only sustained by power,
- >and like Chairman Mao, I also realize that power only flows from the
- >barrel of a gun. Governments, courts, and lawyers are collective wielders
- >of that power, and such concentrations of power are corrupting. Therefore,
- >I prefer restricting the use of power to the individual level. Code duello
- >is perfectly adequate to deal with conflicts arising between individuals.
- >
- >Gary
-
- However, individuals may gain corrupting power independent of a
- government. In fact, if there is no government or equivalent social
- compact, those individuals who start with more power will concentrate
- it more to themselves and use it to contro others. Those without
- power will have less effective control over their own lives as they
- would under a democratic government. Under a democratic government you
- can choose the rule makers and evaluate them by the rules they make,
- under the concentration of power by economics you have no such choice.
- One on one conflicts are not fair if one has an economic machine gun
- and the other an economic bread knife. What happens then is might
- makes right and "justice is the will of the stronger."
-
- my views only
- BMS
-
-