At 2:26 PM -0700 10/6/96, Greg Broiles wrote: (speaking about Jim Bell and his "assassination politics")
If what you want is anarchy (and as I understand things, you're arguing that people should live by their own interpretation of what's right and wrong, and should kill people who disagree with them, which seems like a fair although unnecessarily dismal view of anarchy), there's no point in arguing about the Constitution.
Speaking as an advocate of what some years ago I dubbed "crypto anarchy," I have a much more optimistic view of "anarchy." Anarchy is what I see around me in nearly all areas of human intercourse. What I read, what I eat, what I watch on t.v., who I talk to, where I go, how I live,...all are essentially "anarchic," in the sense that no laws (or at least very few laws) affect my choices. Doesn't mean I have infinite choice, doesn't mean I have the choices I might want...just means that no laws by my city, county, state, or national government have much of anything to say about these questions. This, to me, is not at all dismal. As for "assassination politics," I think the theoretical idea of using betting pools, untraceable payments, etc., are worthwhile _theoretical_ ideas to discuss, occasionally (indeed, I would hope--seriously!--that the FBI is aware of such possibilities and is thinking about them). For me, there is no one I can think of that I would want killed. Not my taunters, not my elected officials (though I despise Senator Fineswine), not court officials, not even the Devil Himself. Clinton, er, I mean "Saddam Hussein." The Hitler example ("Wouldn't you go back in time and kill Hitler if you could?") is so hackneyed as to be meaningless. Actually, I suppose I would be happy if Pol Pot were to die, and maybe Idi Amin (and I'm not sure both are still alive), but for the most part I don't think fundamental problems are directly attributable to specific individuals. So, this is one of several reasons I rarely discuss "assassination politics." --Tim May "The government announcement is disastrous," said Jim Bidzos,.."We warned IBM that the National Security Agency would try to twist their technology." [NYT, 1996-10-02] We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^1,257,787-1 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."