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We no longer live in a Republic but a totalitarian dictatorship

I've lived under not one but two totalitarian dictatorships and can tell the difference between a dictatorship and a representative government any time. We have an elected government; nobody prevented the voters from voting in Harry Browne.

Here's the question for you. Imagine that the President not only gets a declaration of war from Congress, but also puts this "war on terrorism" to a plebiscite. I think you'd agree that the results of the prebiscite would be 90% pro-war and 10% anti-war. Now, these 10% do not consent to the war. Should we not go to war because of the 10%? How about the rights to self-defense of the 90% -- they choose to exercise them by empowering the government to fight a war? How do you propose the 10% withdraw their consent -- what in practicality they should, under natural law, do?

Your question is meaningless. We do in fact live under a dictatorship. We call it a republic but so are many military dictatorships in South America and Africa called republics. The fact that we have a benevolant dictator doesn't change the fact that he is a dictator. There is no further restraint on his ability to make war. That is the definition of a dictatorship. That our President hasn't turned the military on us is simply a formality which will be abandoned in the future (and the past).

The fact that 90% of the people would vote to ignore the constitution is not a concern of mine. Obviously all of those who promise to abide by the document either don't know what it says or do not care. So it is a troubling factoid, but it does not change my mind.

How about the rights to self-defense of the 90% -- they choose to exercise them by empowering the government to fight a war? How do you propose the 10% withdraw their consent -- what in practicality they should, under natural law, do?

How about: stop the 90% from stealing money from me in order to give me protection I don't want? Let me choose my own kind of protection and to pay for it in my own way. Let me assemble with those who agree with me.

I rather suspect that once the 90% discovered that our planes stayed up in the sky and that foreigners didn't hate us, they might decide to join us. But that's beside the point. It's my life. Let me decide how to take care of it.