Make sure you pay your taxes to the government that spies on you!

[AzureEngineer]

So if government is like a business, I can boycott it and find something else that works for me?

Thanks for letting me know!

Yes, but you must also stop purchasing the government's products, which tax evaders always fail to do. Many people "boycott" EA by pirating their games. That isn't boycotting, its stealing. Too many people want to have it both ways, because they're brainless thugs.

[1714036375]

1714036375

[1714036375]

1714036375

[1714036375]

1714036375

[1714036375]

1714036375

[Severian]

Yes, but you must also stop purchasing the government's products

I don't purchase lies, murder and theft so I'm all set.

[myrkul]

I didn't.  "should be no government" is a moral position like "should be no homosexuals."  There is a government right now, its not going away and the important debate is how to make it as good as possible. 

Take away it's monopoly.

[Hawker]

If that is your idea of being the same as a Sharia advocate, you are sadly mistaken.

The end result is the same - faith in violence as a political solution. All advocates of government, be it civil or theocratic, share this primal trait.

I think you are being idealistic to the point of blinding yourself.  You don't like violence do you?  You don't have a way to convince society to live with government yet do you?  So it makes sense to choose a style of government with as low a level of violence as possible.  Any other stance is letting the perfect be the enemy of the good.

Sharia is not the least violent style of government.  Given the choice, I am sure you would choose the US system with all its faults over a Sharia based system.

[Hawker]

I didn't.  "should be no government" is a moral position like "should be no homosexuals."  There is a government right now, its not going away and the important debate is how to make it as good as possible.  

Take away it's monopoly.

So you can legally kill me?  No thanks - I'll pass.

[AzureEngineer]

I don't purchase lies, murder and theft so I'm all set.

Unless you grow your own food and live in a cabin out in the woods, you purchase all three of those things every day.

[Severian]

You don't like violence do you?...  Given the choice, I am sure you would choose the US system with all its faults over a Sharia based system.

I don't like violence as you said so I'd choose neither.

The good thing about America is that it's still possible to get by without government if one makes the right choices.

[Severian]

Unless you grow your own food and live in a cabin out in the woods, you purchase all three of those things every day.

You lack imagination.

[AzureEngineer]

You lack imagination.

Giving up and avoiding conversation? How droll.

[myrkul]

I didn't.  "should be no government" is a moral position like "should be no homosexuals."  There is a government right now, its not going away and the important debate is how to make it as good as possible.  

Take away it's monopoly.

So you can legally kill me?  No thanks - I'll pass.

How would removing the government monopoly on law enforcement allow me to legally kill you if you don't threaten me with violence?

Unless you would? Would you continue to try and set up a monopoly on violence?

[Hawker]

You don't like violence do you?...  Given the choice, I am sure you would choose the US system with all its faults over a Sharia based system.

I don't like violence as you said so I'd choose neither.

The good thing about America is that it's still possible to get by without government if one makes the right choices.

How are you so sure they won't come after you?  The very idea of being able to stay out of the government's way is anathema to theocracy based movements.  

[Hawker]

I didn't.  "should be no government" is a moral position like "should be no homosexuals."  There is a government right now, its not going away and the important debate is how to make it as good as possible.  

Take away it's monopoly.

So you can legally kill me?  No thanks - I'll pass.

How would removing the government monopoly on law enforcement allow me to legally kill you if you don't threaten me with violence?

Unless you would? Would you continue to try and set up a monopoly on violence?

Its illegal for you to kill me now and you have threatened to do so.  Are you trying to say that you'd not do it if it was legal to kill me? 

Think before you post please.

[Severian]

Giving up and avoiding conversation? How droll.

I prefer to have conversations with people that might prove fruitful for one or both parties. I may have misjudged, but it didn't seem like this one was tending that way.

Feel free prove me wrong.

[Severian]

The very idea of being able to stay out of the government's way is anathema to theocracy based movements.  

It's also anathema to modern civil governments.

The only religious nutjobs we have to worry about in America are the Christian and Jewish ones. The Patriot Act wasn't written and passed by Sharia advocates.

[Hawker]

The very idea of being able to stay out of the government's way is anathema to theocracy based movements.  

It's also anathema to modern civil governments.

The only religious nutjobs we have to worry about in America are the Christian and Jewish ones. The Patriot Act wasn't written and passed by Sharia advocates.

Your biblical nutjobs sit around saying "if only people didn't fornicate" - that doesn't help them deal with the problems fornication causes in their communities.  A "lets give them condoms so that at least they don't get pox and have babies" approach would work better.

Likewise, your saying "if only government didn't exist" doesn't affect the Patriot Act one bit.  A movement to repeal it or amend it might though

[myrkul]

I didn't.  "should be no government" is a moral position like "should be no homosexuals."  There is a government right now, its not going away and the important debate is how to make it as good as possible.  

Take away it's monopoly.

So you can legally kill me?  No thanks - I'll pass.

How would removing the government monopoly on law enforcement allow me to legally kill you if you don't threaten me with violence?

Unless you would? Would you continue to try and set up a monopoly on violence?

Its illegal for you to kill me now and you have threatened to do so.  Are you trying to say that you'd not do it if it was legal to kill me? 

Think before you post please.

I haven't threatened to kill you. I have said that I will respond with violence if you threaten me (by advocating that the government should forcibly extract payment from me and kidnap or kill me if I resist) in my presence. I would advise against threatening people.

And I'm still waiting on an answer to whether or not you would continue to advocate and support a violent monopoly.
And on how, exactly, removing the government's monopoly on law enforcement would make murder legal.

[Hawker]

I didn't.  "should be no government" is a moral position like "should be no homosexuals."  There is a government right now, its not going away and the important debate is how to make it as good as possible.  

Take away it's monopoly.

So you can legally kill me?  No thanks - I'll pass.

How would removing the government monopoly on law enforcement allow me to legally kill you if you don't threaten me with violence?

Unless you would? Would you continue to try and set up a monopoly on violence?

Its illegal for you to kill me now and you have threatened to do so.  Are you trying to say that you'd not do it if it was legal to kill me?  

Think before you post please.

I haven't threatened to kill you. I have said that I will respond with violence if you threaten me (by advocating that the government should forcibly extract payment from me and kidnap or kill me if I resist) in my presence. I would advise against threatening people.

And I'm still waiting on an answer to whether or not you would continue to advocate and support a violent monopoly.
And on how, exactly, removing the government's monopoly on law enforcement would make murder legal.

So you tell me that you will respond with violence if I support democracy and you deny that's a threat.  And you say that threatening to strangle me is not a threat to kill

Again, think before you post.  

[AzureEngineer]

I prefer to have conversations with people that might prove fruitful for one or both parties. I may have misjudged, but it didn't seem like this one was tending that way.

Feel free prove me wrong.

What a disappointing cop-out. Maybe you'll have a more vested interest in the subject one day.

[Severian]

What a disappointing cop-out. Maybe you'll have a more vested interest in the subject one day.

Damn. I'm right again.

[Severian]

A movement to repeal it or amend it might though

Trying to repeal the Patriot Act would be construed as terrorism by Homeland Security.