"All politics is local". You vote locally, local people count your votes and submit the total to a larger locality, etc. This is the way Americans set it up in the 18th century. Americans wanted to keep government close to them where they could keep an eye on it.
One result is that the local people must pay for the voting machines or paper ballots, etc. A "standardized, nationalized" ballot and voting system is far more dangerous than some mistakes made at the local level.
There really are no compelling arguments against libertarianism that I''ve seen...
That's the humility of libertarianism
I am positively floored by your humility. Doesn't it seem sort of contradictory that libertarianism is so fanatically dogmatic? Then the libertarians start arguing with the objectarians and the left-libertarians. Where are the Trotskyite libertarians? How about the libertarian librarians? Who speaks for them?
b) What you can be sued or prosecuted for in the United States in the year 2000
You can reduce everything to its absurd extreme and get a good laugh, but don't be surprised when some judge or jury decides that the absurdity is true!
I was 15 years old when I started working at the public library. My job as a page was to retrieve books from the stacks, which were downstairs and offlimits to general public. The stacks contained older and less-read books, but also contained the "X" books.
These books had an X written on the spine above the Dewey Decimal number. They were adults only books. I had to reshelve the books in the stacks, and at slow times I would stop and read. The "X" on the spine was helpful in pointing me to the most interesting works.
The X book I remember best was James Joyce's Ulysses, which had recently been made legal in a court case. After a few browsing sessions I realized this was a serious book. So I made a momentous decision: I stole the book and brought it home to read. (Since I could not legally check it out.)
Revisiting the same library years later, I discovered that the stacks are no longer segregated and there are no more X-rated books. I think the perceived threat of the written word has lessened, to be replaced by dirty pictures and web sites.
The library still has a childrens section. Perhaps no one without an adult libary card should be allowed to browse the computers. I think the age for adult cards is around 12-14, which seems like an appropriate age to read James Joyce's Ulysses.
There are millions upon millions of people in this country. And yet some little schmoe from Asshole, Indiana thinks that he is so important that the "gummint" has got dozens of agents watching his every move and reading every little piece of mail that he gets.
Actually it is possible for a government to do this kind of thing, and some governments have found it desirable. An example is the former East German (DDR) government's Stasi secret police. After Communism fell, the unified German regime opened up the Stasi records and people were shocked at how many of their neighbors had been snitching on them.
It worked kind of like Amway: Joe recruits Mary, Mary recruits five of her friends, they each recruit five, etc. There's a threat of blackmail for those who resist being recruited. These people didn't have to be on the Stasi payroll; they were public-spirited citizens. Of course, half the people being snitched upon were also working for the Stasi, but the Stasi liked this feature. It kept everyone on their toes.
The other interesting thing that came out was the level of detail that the Stasi agents was recording. Incredibly trivial stuff. Not that the Stasi used most of this trivia. That wasn't the point. In techie terms, they were interested in Granularity. Hi-rez surveillance.
...dramatically in favor of media corporations, who now virtually own popular culture
When did they not? In the 1950's there was a famous vocal group called the Drifters ("Under the Boardwalk", etc.). They had many hits, first on the R&B charts, later crossing over into the pop charts. The Drifters embodied the spirit of Doo-Wop -- a spontaneous expression of street-corner culture.
One day in the late 50's, the Drifters' producers FIRED THE ENTIRE GROUP. They had the right to do this because they owned the name -- the members were just employees. A new group of singers was brought in and, still known as the Drifters, they had some more hit records. The public didn't know or didn't care.
Corporate/Popular culture is voracious. William Gibson pointed out somewhere that the lead time is shortening -- that "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was a spontaneous phenomenon for about 2 weeks before being captured, before it was being played on the runway at Paris fashion shows.
Slashdot Mirror
One result is that the local people must pay for the voting machines or paper ballots, etc. A "standardized, nationalized" ballot and voting system is far more dangerous than some mistakes made at the local level.
1) the employees don't exercise their options
2) the company doesn't collect the paper "loss"
3) the company pays more taxes
4) profits go down
5) stock price goes down
repeat step 1.
This is why it's not a win-win-win. Another implication is that employees leave for greener pastures
I am positively floored by your humility. Doesn't it seem sort of contradictory that libertarianism is so fanatically dogmatic? Then the libertarians start arguing with the objectarians and the left-libertarians. Where are the Trotskyite libertarians? How about the libertarian librarians? Who speaks for them?
a) What is the common sense version of "fairness"
and
b) What you can be sued or prosecuted for in the United States in the year 2000
You can reduce everything to its absurd extreme and get a good laugh, but don't be surprised when some judge or jury decides that the absurdity is true!
These books had an X written on the spine above the Dewey Decimal number. They were adults only books. I had to reshelve the books in the stacks, and at slow times I would stop and read. The "X" on the spine was helpful in pointing me to the most interesting works.
The X book I remember best was James Joyce's Ulysses, which had recently been made legal in a court case. After a few browsing sessions I realized this was a serious book. So I made a momentous decision: I stole the book and brought it home to read. (Since I could not legally check it out.)
Revisiting the same library years later, I discovered that the stacks are no longer segregated and there are no more X-rated books. I think the perceived threat of the written word has lessened, to be replaced by dirty pictures and web sites.
The library still has a childrens section. Perhaps no one without an adult libary card should be allowed to browse the computers. I think the age for adult cards is around 12-14, which seems like an appropriate age to read James Joyce's Ulysses.
Actually it is possible for a government to do this kind of thing, and some governments have found it desirable. An example is the former East German (DDR) government's Stasi secret police. After Communism fell, the unified German regime opened up the Stasi records and people were shocked at how many of their neighbors had been snitching on them.
It worked kind of like Amway: Joe recruits Mary, Mary recruits five of her friends, they each recruit five, etc. There's a threat of blackmail for those who resist being recruited. These people didn't have to be on the Stasi payroll; they were public-spirited citizens. Of course, half the people being snitched upon were also working for the Stasi, but the Stasi liked this feature. It kept everyone on their toes.
The other interesting thing that came out was the level of detail that the Stasi agents was recording. Incredibly trivial stuff. Not that the Stasi used most of this trivia. That wasn't the point. In techie terms, they were interested in Granularity. Hi-rez surveillance.
When did they not? In the 1950's there was a famous vocal group called the Drifters ("Under the Boardwalk", etc.). They had many hits, first on the R&B charts, later crossing over into the pop charts. The Drifters embodied the spirit of Doo-Wop -- a spontaneous expression of street-corner culture.
One day in the late 50's, the Drifters' producers FIRED THE ENTIRE GROUP. They had the right to do this because they owned the name -- the members were just employees. A new group of singers was brought in and, still known as the Drifters, they had some more hit records. The public didn't know or didn't care.
Corporate/Popular culture is voracious. William Gibson pointed out somewhere that the lead time is shortening -- that "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was a spontaneous phenomenon for about 2 weeks before being captured, before it was being played on the runway at Paris fashion shows.