From: Blanc Weber <blancw@microsoft.com>
Date: Mon, 12 Sep 94 13:00:28 PDT
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: RE: CONTROL FREAKS
Message-ID: <9409122001.AA09412@netmail2.microsoft.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


From 1) Samuel Kaplin & 2) Sandy Sandfort:

    The senario that I see, is
    [1] the borders being closed....
    [2] All of the firearms and weapons being removed from
    private hands....
    [3] The U.S. economy being isolated from the rest of the
    world....

[1] If they stopped foreign businesspeople and tourists, the
economy suffers.  Without Mexican "guest workers" the price of
agricultural products go through the ceiling.  The US can[not] afford
to close its borders.
[2]  . . . Gun ownership is *growing* not declining.  These folks
are *serious* about keeping their weapons.  . . . .
[3] The US economy is broad, but not that broad.  Without world
trade (especially for petroleum) we would grind to a halt. . . .
...................................................................... 
...........

Although I can't see the US arriving at Samuel's scenario completely,  
neither can I prevent from seeing the threat which does rear its ugly 
head;  the trend is towards the proposal & acceptance of more controls. 
 It may not succeed 100%, but still there is an intervening time to 
consider during which the "legislators" attempt to accomplish just 
these things.

1)  The suffering of the economy has not stopped the big G in the past 
from preventing "guest workers" or others from crossing the borders, or 
at least giving them & their US employers a hard time in the process.

2)  Gun ownership may be increasing (among the "inner city youth" 
mostly, it appears sometimes), but nevertheless there are many other 
groups building up their campaigns against the possession of certain 
weapons and against "violence" per se.

3)  There are always groups in govmt & private industry who wish for 
protection against the vicissitudes of world trade problems;  if it 
were not for the efforts of those who constantly oppose them it is 
conceivable that the US could be closed to most areas of trade (even if 
only temporarily, until the pain becomes too great).

It isn't conceivable that the US would ever become 100% isolated and 
totalitarian, but it is true that there are many people who would 
support such measures as would arrive at that stage eventually, if they 
could have their way.

Sandy & others (including myself) may be able to reason that it 
wouldn't work to do such-and-such, because of the adverse consequences 
and because it wouldn't make economic sense, but it doesn't follow 
logically that the members of Congress & their supporters will also 
reason along the same lines.  Unfortunately I am constantly reading in 
the news that just such restrictive, constraining ideas and interests 
are being proposed in Congress and applauded by private groups.

I think that there may be a big tug-of-war between the growing 
contrasts in the political/philosophical inclinations of the citizenry 
of the US.   The lines between them are becoming more clearly 
demarcated (to myself, anyway).

(Oh  - and of course, there will be a role in there, in between, for 
crypto, what with all the secret messages they will all want to send to 
each other.)

Blanc