From: tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)
Date: Fri, 8 Sep 95 17:53:26 PDT
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Libertarian Party and Crypto Anarchy
Message-ID: <ac76325b3d021004c1d9@[205.199.118.202]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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[I've changed the name of this thread. Somehow the title "Re: [NOISE]Re:
ECPA (Was: University logging mail to anon.penet.fi)" did not quite cut it.
I really wish folks would take the effort to change thread names when
appropriate.]


At 11:24 PM 9/8/95, Jim Ray wrote:

>They were in the minority in my party, even *before* the OK City
>mass-murder proved why we have such a pledge (to distance ourselves
>from those who would initiate violence).

As a point of reference, I usually vote Libertarian, even though it's
pointless. And I'm even registered "Libertarian Party," which matters even
less. (I've also changed my registration to Democratic or Republican when I
wanted to influence in some tiny way their primaries...as when I switched
to Democrat so as to vote for Jerry Brown, mainly because of his flat tax
proposal.)

But I've never signed the LP "pledge" as I dislike such blanket pledges.
And I dislike the notion of pledges per se.

So, I'm registered to the Libertarian Party, and usually vote Libertarian.
But I am not allowed to be a dues-paying member and get their worthless
newsletters, which suits me fine.

(Anybody prepared to bomb a government building is not going to balk at
signing such a pledge, so it does little good. Personally, I think the
"pledge" is profoundly anti-libertarian, and smacks of McCarthyism.)

Your mileage may vary. And I place a lot more faith in crypto activism
having an effect than in the LP having an effect. Crypto and crypto
anarchist ideas are already creeping into the LP belief system, as
reflected in articles in "Reason" and "Liberty." And David Friedman (author
of "The Machinery of Freedom," and son of Milton) gave a talk recently in
L.A. entitled "Crypto Anarchy and the State."

--Tim May

---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
Corralitos, CA              | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^756839      | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."