At 9:35 AM -0800 5/21/97, Michael Wilson wrote:
The occasion of Jim Bell's arrest provides an opportunity to consider a number of points:
Are Federal Agents Evil? Why is there an attempt to persecute Jim Bell, one that has many similarities to the Olympic Park Bombing rush-to-judgment, Ruby Ridge, Waco, OK City, etc.? Are we to believe that government agents are 'evil,' or True Believers that _we_ (those who are _not_ true believers) are evil? I personally think not. I think we are
I almost never think government agents, even most rulers, are in any meaningful sense "evil." I've written in the past about "institutional" issues, and about Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil." The problems in the United States, with bloated welfare roles, a "policeman for the world" mentality, an overly litigous/litigious society, etc., come not from any personal evil on the part of the elected or appointed officials, but rather from an inexorable growth of certain institutions in predictable ways. Any enity, be it an organism or an institution, a living plant like a tree or a corporation like PGP, Inc., grows and thrives by how well it competes, how well it bends toward the sources of food and energy, and what genes or memes it received. "The purpose of any organism is to survive" is a telelogical truism, of course. But it is still true. All institutions--corporations, clubs, Cypherpunks--seek to prosper and grow, in various ways. Even if not directed by a central nervous system. In corporations, even individual departments seek to grow. This aids in career advancement. "Empire building" happens with countries, government bureaucracies, corporations, clubs, and so on. There are perfectlylogical game-theoretic reasons why the Washington bureaucracy has gotten so large, why every one of the 500+ Congresscritters has a staff of dozens working for him or her, why each of the dozen or so major Cabinet departments has dozens of buildings and thousands (even millions, as with DoD) of worker bees, why each entity in government seeks constantly to expand its scope and powers, and why the number of rules, regulations, laws, emergency orders, and edicts expands inexorably every day. "Evil" is not a useful way to analyze this problem. In this sense, everyone in government is an "innocent." But the problem still needs to be fixed. And in fixing these institutions it is unavoidable that "non-evil" persons will be affected. How could it be otherwise? Some will lose their careers, some their current jobs, some may even lose their lives. (No, this is not a threat, just a statement of the obvious, a prediction.) Innocents in Washington and elsewhere will, if they have any sense of their own future security, seek to avoid the institutions and power centers which will be affected by the necessary restructurings. --Tim May There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws. Only one response to the key grabbers is warranted: "Death to Tyrants!" ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- 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: 2^1398269 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."