One Reporter's Opinion – Never Legalize Pot!

Newmax ^ | Friday, June 10, 2005 | Gearge Putnam

[muawiyah]

Hey, how do you differentiate between "socialism" and the "post offices and post roads" clause in the Constitution?

[RightWhale]

Bentham is one with rare insight. Spencer is another. Green is the godfather of the theory of the State.

[mugs99]

You do not own yourself.

You need go no further, that statement speaks volumes!
If I do not own myself, I am property. Who owns me? The federal government? The state goverment? You?
The self ownership argument stands.
...

[muawiyah]

Who owns the patent on your DNA?

[RightWhale]

If I do not own myself, I am property.

We ought to distinguish between possession and property. Property is something acknowledged by the State. There is a Title or Deed. Something can be possessed without being property. Treating a person as property is slavery, whether the State, or the whipboss, or yourself do it. Slavery is illegal, in this country, to a degree.

[mugs99]

Once we get past that then maybe you can differentiate between socialism and community

I wasn't part of that debate, but the answer is simple common knowledge.
Government can't repudiate brass, gold or silver. Government can repudiate paper by simply printing more. Paper is an I.O.U., not money.
Brass, gold and silver have intrinsic value...Real money.
...

[GoLightly]

It's not a matter of "owning", it's a matter of the ability to act in a manner that you believe is in your self interest.

On a sliding scale of government limits (intrusions) over the choices you are allowed to exercise, on one end you will find anarchy & on the other totalitarianism. Pure socialism (communism) argues in favor of totalitarianism for the "common good". Democratic socialism argues in favor of mob rule, where the majority have the power to use force over individuals, again for the "common good".

Pure anarchy could also be called the law of the jungle, where the strongest (or wiliest) of any particular encounter is the one in power of the interaction. The stronger would have a great deal of personal freedom, while the weaker would have less or none.

Our government was set up as a constitutional republic, where great limits were supposed to have been placed to reign in the collective will for the "common good". Men were expected to work towards the common good, because it was the right thing to do, not because the government had the power to coerce citizens to do so.

We've wandered into democratic socialism, but it didn't happen instantly, so most of the nation's citizens do not recognize it for what it is.

[RightWhale]

Brass, gold and silver have intrinsic value

Industrial or military use? In that case, so does iron or Portland cement.

[muggs]

There was another freeper named muggsy awhile back and NY muggs

I guess it is more popular than I realized. I don't know why anyone else chose the name but mine is the nickname my little bratty sister gave me because she couldn't say my real name. There was a monkey on TV, when we were little girls, named J Fred Muggs and that's were she got the name.

[muawiyah]

How about those "impressions" of the brass bulls in the mud?

Those ultimately became much more important than the brass or the bulls. Gold and silver didn't become money until AFTER that time, although both were in use in ancient Sumer.

[muawiyah]

"reasonable" means a lot of things to a lot of people. Personally, after nearly 4 decades working with the critter I think the post office clause should be rescinded and the whole business privatized.

With GPS equipment, we will shortly be able to eliminate PUBLIC HIGHWAYS and ROADS. UK is working on charging folks by the mile, and once that's in place there are an infinitude of business opportunities.

Let's say I think I can take care of 10 miles of Arlington Boulevard better than Virginia. So, I buy the highway~! Then I take care of it, and let the GPS system figure out who owes what and remits that to me out of the direct payments made by drivers.

Someone else buys another highway. And so forth. We begin competing ~ my 10 miles against your alternate route.

We could get rid of the "post roads" part in the Constitution as well.

Eliminate the "gold and silver as lawful money" clause, thereby allowing anybody to do anything, and I just bet we could initiate the extirpation of every last vestige of socialism from our society.

So what's this "reasonable" stuff again? Sounds positively Luddite!

[RightWhale]

The post used to be operated by the University as an adjunct to the Church. Let the guys on bicycles do it, they visit everybody anyway.

[mugs99]

We ought to distinguish between possession and property

No, we ought not. That is a paternalistic argument used to confuse a child. Do you believe yourself to be my parent? Possession is holding property. Without property, there is nothing to posess.

Property is something acknowledged by the State

Yes, I have a serial number and so do you.

Treating a person as property is slavery....Slavery is illegal, in this country, to a degree.

ROFL!
"To a degree"?
Use of property is subject to the interest of the owner.
If the state owns me, any freedom I have is a privilege granted to me by my state master. At any time my owner feels a compelling interest to take my privilege he may do so.

The self ownership argument stands.

[mugs99]

We've wandered into democratic socialism, but it didn't happen instantly, so most of the nation's citizens do not recognize it for what it is.

Very true. The question is...How do we do we get back on track?
...

[mugs99]

Industrial or military use? In that case, so does iron or Portland cement

Use doesn't matter, value does. Iron and cement can, and have been, used as money.
...

[mugs99]

How about those "impressions" of the brass bulls in the mud?

They went beyond money. Religious icons are not used in common trade. I've lived in places where a Hershey bar had more monetary value than government paper or coin.
...

[RightWhale]

The TS case proves the second part of your argument.

Self-ownership is impossible, however self-government is the situation.

If we persist in using technical terms on the street level, nothing but prima facie thought is demonstrated, and FR ought to do better than that or fold its tent.