From: Secret Squirrel <nobody@secret.squirrel.owl.de>
Date: Tue, 18 Nov 1997 00:16:28 +0800
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
Subject: Overcoming War with Information
Message-ID: <608de478834f3fb5b4a7cd41ff59a717@squirrel>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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Steve Schear wrote:
>Many injustices follow from form and scale of government.  I won't be the 
>first to point out that as the number of people, geography and ethnic 
>diversity increase governance becomes ever more difficult and as is the 
>balancing of individual liberty over the "overiding interests of the 
>society."  The solution is clear, the method of its emergence is not.  
>Smaller geo-political units.  I doubt that our pressing social and political 
>problems can be adequately delt with until the scale of governance is 
>changed, but this requires those in the center to give up much and 
>historically this has rarely if ever happened without bloodshed.

Monty Cantsin wrote elsewhere:
>One of the things that appeals to me about the tools the cypherpunks
>are developing is the likelihood that they will end war.  What
>percentage of wars are instigated and organized by governments?  That
>is, how many wars can we think of in which a war originated in the
>population of country and dragged its unwilling government into the
>fray?  I cannot think of any.

War is often used to justify the existence of government.  If politicians 
can convince the people that they have an enemy that must be destroyed, the 
people willingly give their lives and livelihood to the government to fight 
this assumed enemy.  War feeds the expansion of a government's power over 
its citizens.  After the war has ended, the government maintains this 
newfound power.

Interestingly, the 20th century, which has been the bloodiest in recorded 
history, has also been the century of failed experiments in large-scale 
government.  The former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia are clear examples of 
what happens when different groups of people (who would rather not be 
associated) are forced to live together at the point of a gun.  The 
disolution of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, and the subsequent violence 
and unrest clearly illustrate the results of forced association.

Governments are impedements to the free and voluntary interaction among the 
world's people.  Look how vehemently governments attempt to block the flow 
of certain types of information to their people.  Trade barriers, censorship 
and control of communications channels are three of the tools governments 
use to restrict a free global society.

The trend now is toward smaller political units.  The recent dissolution of 
former socialist nation-states is one example.  The growth in the "State 
Sovereignty" movement in America is another.  "Those in the center", as 
Steve refers to them, may not have any choice about giving up what they 
have.  Their only hope would be to spread enough lies (via the mass media 
channels) to convince the majority of people to back them, in another war of 
course.

We must remember that people are reluctant -- and for good reason -- to go 
to war.  Common sense prevails, though it may not be exercised all that
often.  War can be avoided if the truth of the situation is revealed to the
populace: the spotlight shone on the puppetmasters.

At the same time, clear solutions to the problems that have accumulated due 
to blind faith in an unworkable system have to be presented and implemented. 
The transition will not be easy.

We have our work cut out for us.

Nerthus

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