Slashdot Mirror

Treason only lies in waging war against the U.S. or in aiding it's enemies. Copying per se can not be either of these things. Ditribution may be, but not the copying. But everyone knows there's not such thing a treason really. http://www.lysanderspooner.org/node/44

Amen. This is why the Federal Government is mandated to run the Post Office. At the dawn of the Republic, no intelligent businessman would operate such a money-losing enterprise. However, it is a necessary and needed service.

FYI, This is incorrect. The federal government had to force Lysander Spooner (under threat of imprisonment) to stop competing with the US Postal Service in the 1800s.

So who was rushing to offer that service in the 50+ years prior to his founding of the AML when only the US Post Office was doing so? While I think it was pretty crappy that he was basically forced out of business through legal costs, that's a common tactic among businesses even today. That the government did it is admittedly even worse though. I don't think that his competing is an argument against the necessity of the US Post Office though, as there was no other competing service for that first 50 or so years.

Amen. This is why the Federal Government is mandated to run the Post Office. At the dawn of the Republic, no intelligent businessman would operate such a money-losing enterprise. However, it is a necessary and needed service.

FYI, This is incorrect. The federal government had to force Lysander Spooner (under threat of imprisonment) to stop competing with the US Postal Service in the 1800s.

Au contraire!

I've seen 45 years of fail. Wither away.

I agree

Well, I would say that voting for the Party is throwing your vote away. You should always vote for what you believe in and let the chips fall where they may. We will see no change until that becomes the general attitude. I can tell you this, a vote for McCain or Obama is a vote for Nixon. We have been ruled by his sensibilities for the last 40 years. And furthermore, not voting is not treason.

Really ?

You don't know about the American Letter Company then.

http://www.lysanderspooner.org/STAMP2.htm
http://www.lysanderspooner.org/STAMP1.htm
http://www.lysanderspooner.org/STAMP3.htm

The sad truth is, USPS is a coercive monopoly which wouldn't exist if it where not for competitors being threatened of jail and large fines.

Really ?

You don't know about the American Letter Company then.

http://www.lysanderspooner.org/STAMP2.htm
http://www.lysanderspooner.org/STAMP1.htm
http://www.lysanderspooner.org/STAMP3.htm

The sad truth is, USPS is a coercive monopoly which wouldn't exist if it where not for competitors being threatened of jail and large fines.

Really ?

You don't know about the American Letter Company then.

http://www.lysanderspooner.org/STAMP2.htm
http://www.lysanderspooner.org/STAMP1.htm
http://www.lysanderspooner.org/STAMP3.htm

The sad truth is, USPS is a coercive monopoly which wouldn't exist if it where not for competitors being threatened of jail and large fines.

Maybe it is time to seriously consider revoking the monopoly provision that the USPS has in terms of being the only legal first class mail deliverer. The last time this was seriously proposed and enacted was over 150 years ago. That one competitive business put the USPS to shame and lowered prices and increased quality (as competition does).

I still can't figure out why we're accepting the postal service when there are many more companies that provide better service for other forms of mail (priority, ground, freight, etc). Even the USPS uses FedEx for their International Express service.

The USPS has one big problem: it can not compete well. It's run by bureaucrats who know they'll get paid regardless of service levels or prices. UPS and FedEx woo my businesses regularly (we mail a ton of stuff), and the prices haven't changed much even with fuel surcharges and the rest. I get an amazing rate for local deliveries of packages under 8 pounds, and it all ends up landing next day just via ground delivery.

I really haven't heard one good reason why we can't let competition into the first class mail market. Yes, the Constitution provides for the Federal Government to maintain mail delivery, but it doesn't actually say they should be the only providers. I'd think the USPS would do fine for remote areas of the country, and the big boys would bring prices down, and service up, by entering the market that desperately needs help.

Anyone who's watched Braveheart, knows the English system of laws is about the most corrupt there is.... it has nothing to do with justice, but rather, is a way for the state to impose a super fine grain level of power into every single person's lives and judge them individual. It upholds them to the most impecable standards and scrutity, while in the dark does the most dastardly and criminal deeds. Its all about retaining the right to steal, murder, torture, and spy to the state, while denying these things to anybody else.

United States law was based upon this system, and likewise the same corruption has resulted. That was the US founding fathers biggest mistake after fighting the revolution... basing their system of law on the one thing they hated most and fought against, but knew of nothing else to base it upon. They did their best with the best ideas they had a the time, but the Federalists overthrew it all and pushed for a Republic against a democracy. They might as well pushed for a new king.

http://www.lysanderspooner.org/bib_new.htm

A poster farther up asks "how many tin foil hat types think theres a connection with today's bombings"... All things considered, I find the coincidence of today's bombings somewhat disturbing. If history is to be considered, then there is good reason to question whether or not there is a connection.

How much farther does this idiocy have to go before the proles wake up. Aside from a new and improved Asshole Act, I wonder what monstrous retaliation awaits the next targets of our country's arrogant and foolhardy wrath.

If knowledge is power, then ignorance must be impotence. So I beg you to do what you can in that regard, at least. Share the knowledge. Encourage the ideals. Stand by your neighbors. Voice your opinion. Be disobedient if you must.

Need some red pills for your trapped friends and family? Perhaps these will help:

The Law, Frederic Bastiat http://bastiat.org/en/the_law.html

No Treason, by Lysander Spooner http://www.lysanderspooner.org/notreason.htm

An Essay on the Trial by Jury, by Lysander Spooner http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1201

Politics and the English Language, by George Orwell http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm

The Declaration of Independence http://www.law.indiana.edu/uslawdocs/declaration.h tml

Civil Disobedience http://www.cs.indiana.edu/statecraft/civ.dis.html

Common Sense, by Thomas Paine http://www.bartleby.com/133/

Discourse on Voluntary Servitude, Ettiene de la Boetie http://tmh.floonet.net/articles/laboetie.html

The Discovery of Freedom, Rose Wilder Lane http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Wilder_Lane

Law of Nations, Vattel http://www.constitution.org/vattel/vattel.htm

Best luck to us all.

C

It is true that the theory of our Constitution is, that all taxes are paid voluntarily; that our government is a mutual insurance company, voluntarily entered into by the people with each other; that that each man makes a free and purely voluntary contract with all others who are parties to the Constitution, to pay so much money for so much protection, the same as he does with any other insurance company; and that he is just as free not to be protected, and not to pay tax, as he is to pay a tax, and be protected.

Better yet, he should support conversion to a single tax on net assets at a rate equal to the national debt (since government debt vehicles are the "welfare safety net" for capital) with an exemption for subsistence assets (since the populus is effectively held on retainer as mercenaries for defense of property rights and should be paid mercenary wages for said retainer) as a clarifying step.

Alice Rosenbaum merely represents the other side of the coin to communism's central planning. Rosenbaum represents centralized wealth. The coin itself represents centralization and crushing the life out of young families and small business.

Democracy is a myth designed to make the weak think that they play by the same rules as the strong. People not voting is in part due to the collective action problem, but see also No Treason No. 4.

hmmmm, it sounds to me like you need a little bit of No Treason No. 4

Huh? You didn't just jump to that conclusion, dude. You called a cab, drove to the airport, stood in line for an hour, bought a ticket, and flew halfway around the world to that conclusion.

My conclusion flowed quite logically from what you wrote. Perhaps you don't see the logical consequences of the ideas you are esposing. I do.

Let me make this more clear. Let's say I were to make the statement that I believe I have a right to a free lunch one day per week. I'm being deliberately silly to make my point: I have a right to one free lunch per week.

That is not a right. That is a wish. In America it is called an entitlement. Like most Americans you are confused as to what a right is. Try this link:

article on rights

One, because it's written down in our founding document.

Many of the founders were reluctant to enumerate any specific rights out of concern that our government, in some future age, would try to check our rights by denying us those which were not enumerated but clearly ours. Here is a link on that subject.

what some of our founders thought about this notion

And two, because we all agree that we have it

Thanks, but no thanks. I don't let the mob do my thinking for me. I can assure you that I (and you) require certain rights whether you or the mob choose to recognize them or not. The fact that one can be imprisoned or killed, in some countries, for exercising those rights in no way means I (and you) don't require them.

Why do we require them and how have I identified them? Because they are provably neccessary for our ability to survive and thrive as human beings. Their infringment by governments always leads to loss of life.

Our founding documents were the first attempts, even made by man, to found a government based on these principles. Unfortunately, for many reasons, our founders were not entirely successful in binding the government to its, arguably proper, very limited role.

It is evident that you don't understand what a right is. I also don't think you understand much about the nature of governments.

Read some Lysander Spooner Lysander Spooner

Also interesting is this little booklet on amazon
Hologram of Liberty

And of course all of the founding fathers writings, the philosophers who influenced them, as well as the prior history of England and English common law make for interesting and enlightening reading. And don't forget the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

But here I am in another pointless usenet discussion. Sort of like reading R.D. Laings' book Knots.

Good luck to you.