From: Lucky Green <shamrock@netcom.com>
Date: Sun, 14 Sep 1997 21:21:14 +0800
To: "Thomas Junker" <cypherpunks@Algebra.COM
Subject: Re: A Reality Check & the Full Citizenship Campaign
In-Reply-To: <v03007800b04118f6f67d@[198.115.179.81]>
Message-ID: <3.0.2.32.19970914061202.006c2168@netcom10.netcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



At 04:34 AM 9/14/97 -0500, Thomas Junker wrote:
>On 14 Sep 97 at 0:00, Vin McLellan wrote:
>> 	Declan or someone who tracks Congressional voting trends should
>> double-check me, but I harbor doubt that the US Congress (or rather, the
>> House of Represenatives) is about to vote and approve such a bill.
>
>Some thought the same of the CDA. In a few years more some will be 
>saying the same of some death camp bill. It's all relative, and the 
>relative window in this step-wise game of incremental slavery is 
>quite narrow these days.
>
>> This Nation, and the rights of citizenship the state conceeds,
>> were not defined and enumberated in terms of what will make police
>> oversight and investigation most cost-effective.
>
>Right, but it's illustrative of the problem that one writes, "and
>the rights of citizenship the state concedes," because this nation
>was founded on no such basis.

The key thing to realize is that the power of the state in the US derives
from the will of the governed. What Cypherpunks tend to ignore is the
simple fact that the governed want to be governed. The People want
warrantless wiretaps, they want crypto to be outlawed, they want the death
penalty for anyone that passes a joint to their kids. That they arrived at
these wants due to propaganda is irrelevant. Congress simply reflects the
will of the People. If you doubt this fact, just conduct a poll that asks
the following question:

"Should suspected nuclear terrorists and child molesters be allowed to
engage in their activities unchallenged OR should the government be enabled
to have access to all plaintext?"

Crowley would argue that this is not their True Will. Correct, but since
the People are not going to discover their True Will, who cares?


--Lucky Green <shamrock@netcom.com>
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