We Get the Government We Deserve

[tcmay@netcom.com (Timothy C. May)]

Phil Karn writes:

>It really gives one pause. Is government really the enemy of personal
>freedoms, or does it merely reflect an intolerant and unenlightened
>general population? It's easy to make a government that responds to
>the will and whim of the majority, but how can one create a government
>that rises above the petty illiberalism of the people it governs to
>protect the rights of the individual?

Americans are simultaneously of two minds about privacy:

* "What have you got to hide?"

* "None of your damned business."

(I don't know other national cultures very well, hence the focus on the
culture I do know.)

These views come out at different times in different ways, but most people
express them and fail to see the dichotomy.

My crusade happens to be against the basic idea of democracy itself. Yes, I
am opposed to democracy and seek to use crypto as a way to bypass
democracy, to hide transactions from the tax collectors and hence from
"society," and to find ways to bypass national borders and the democratic
or authoritarian (whichever, or both) institutions that they encompass.

We get the government we deserve. The Drug War is happening because
Americans shrilly say "Do something!" and would rather have the D.A.R.E.
commandoes educating their kids than do it themselves. Ditto for most of
the laws passed by the tens of thousands every year. (Ever wonder why we
need thousands of new laws? I do.)

De Tocqueville (sp?) said that the American experiment in democracy would
last only until the voters realized they could pick the pockets of others
at the ballot box. That point arrived at least 50 years ago.

--Tim May

..........................................................................
Timothy C. May         | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@netcom.com       | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
408-688-5409           | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA  | black markets, collapse of governments.
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"National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."