Re: Private and Public

["Perry E. Metzger" <pmetzger@lehman.com>]

Arthur Chandler says:
>   Right now, there seems to be a kind of social contract between us and 
> the government: it protects us, provides free schools, etc etc, in 
> exchange for which we have to pony up a fair share of our earnings. It 
> follows, doesn't it, that the government has a right to enforce its laws 
> saying that everyone must pay that fair share of taxes?

You are asking a political, not a technical, question. Personally, I
don't believe there is such a thing as a social contract -- I never
signed anything, and from what I can tell the terms on the social
contract are ones I would never have accepted. I would be happy to
purchase what the goverment give me on the open market -- I see no
need for government to be involved in mail delivery or garbage
collection or schools or any of the other things it runs -- from what
I can tell all it touches turns to crap.

However, this entire topic belongs on places like talk.politics.misc,
not cypherpunks. I would suggest that it be conducted elsewhere.

Perry