Frank Creel's Second Amendment Position

FrankCreel.org ^ | 8/27/02 | Frank Creel

[inquest]

My signature is not on this contract. Therefore it's a contract only in the figurative sense.

[Demidog]

My signature is not on this contract.

Of course it is. You haven't renounced your citizenship. Your consent is implied.

[inquest]

Your consent is implied.

That's just another way of saying that my consent is irrelevant. And renouncing my citizenship won't relieve me of my obligation to pay taxes, or to obey any laws that are in effect.

Individual people do not have the power to first provide some service to others (such as paving the road in front of their houses), and then unilaterally declare that those other people, by benefiting from those services, are obligated to pay for them, and that their consent to such a deal was "implied". Only government seems to have reserved that ability for itself.

[ltlflwr]

He's the best in my book. :)

[Demidog]

That's just another way of saying that my consent is irrelevant.

No it isn't. Your consent is everything. The Declaration of independence says that governments derive their just powers by the consent of the governed. If the government assumes power that you couldn't possibly consent to then it is assuming unjust power.

Such as, for instance, gun registration schemes.

Individual people do not have the power to first provide some service to others (such as paving the road in front of their houses), and then unilaterally declare that those other people, by benefiting from those services, are obligated to pay for them, and that their consent to such a deal was "implied".

Correct.

Only government seems to have reserved that ability for itself.

They cannot then claim to be governing by your consent.

[inquest]

So does that mean that everything government does to me that I disagree with is invalid? I'm having a hard time following you otherwise.

[Demidog]

So does that mean that everything government does to me that I disagree with is invalid?

Not necessarily. It means that everything they do which does not involve the excercise of a power they posess is invalid.

[inquest]

And, so you've said, they only possess the powers that the people themselves possess. But it's still the case that by necessity they must exercise powers that people can't exercise individually. You've said that with government, my consent to what they do is implied. As I tried to explain earlier, people can only do certain things to other people when their consent is explicit and in writing. But if government can assume that consent is implied, then surely you can see that gives them a huge advantage. From there, it becomes an entirely subjective matter to determine what people might or might not consent to.