Democracy is our enemy

[Thomas Leavitt]

Thank you for replying.

Yes, the ignorance of our representatives is sometimes frightening - I think 
a remedial course in civics, American history, and basic constitutional law 
should be mandatory for all elected officials at every level... and yet, the 
system as a whole continues to function, at some level, and I can't say I'd 
prefer to live anywhere else.

There is a element that folks like the gentleman you respond to below ,have 
which reminds me of the more arrogant and self-righteous of the folks who 
surrounded me in college: "The system is bad, straight through, therefore we 
must tear it down completely, and rebuild it."

They want a nice clean tabula rasa, nothing so dirty and complicated as an 
actual system inhabited by real live human beings who refuse to behave in 
the way they should. And they are focused on destroying the "bad" system, 
with very little idea of what would be erected in it's place, much less any 
thought as to what messy process might have to be gone through to come up 
with a new one that is acceptable to the people made to inhabit it.

As for condemning democracy to the "dustbin of history", well we know what 
happened the last time someone did this:

Dustbin of History, the

A handy phrase made famous by Leon Trotsky. The Second Congress of Soviets 
was being held in Petrograd when news of Bolshevik seizure of power was 
announced on 25 October (7 November, New Style) 1917. With this decisive 
turn of events, the Mensheviks and other left groups decided not to 
participate in the Congress, and as they were leaving the room where the 
Congress was being held, Trotsky taunted them by proclaiming -- truthfully, 
as it turned out -- that they were well on their way into the dustbin of 
history.

http://www.voiceoftheturtle.org/dictionary/dict_d1.shtml#dustbin

Personally, I'd rather avoid a repetition of the resulting socio-historical 
disaster.

Regards,
Thomas Leavitt

--
Thomas Leavitt -- thomasleavitt at hotmail.com; ICQ #16455919
http://www.internetmanifesto.org/
http://www.sczenkarate.org/
http://www.space.org/
http://www.gnosis.org/

Wired since 1981. Internet enabled since 1990. Web enabled since 1993.



>From: keyser-soze at hushmail.com
>To: cypherpunks at lne.com
>CC: "\\" Thomas Leavitt\ "" <thomasleavitt at hotmail.com>
>Subject: Re: Democracy is our enemy
>Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2001 17:46:44 +0000
>
>At 04:58 PM 9/24/2001 -0700, Tim May wrote:
>On Monday, September 24, 2001, at 03:08 PM, Thomas Leavitt wrote:
> >>I'm tired of hearing my fellow Americans referred to as cowards, 
>weaklings, sheep, ignorant, easily mislead - this is a profoundly 
>undemocratic sentiment, the same kind of crap spewed by totalitarian and 
>authoritarian types from the far left and the far right as justification 
>for abandonment of the democratic process and the use of force to impose 
>their ideology on the rest of us.
>
> >We are not for "democracy." Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on 
>what's for dinner.
>
>We are not a democracy, but a repubic (pun intended). The primary 
>responsibility of our elected officials is to protect the minorities from 
>the majority and to preserve protect and defend the constitution.  Many 
>representatives clearly show they have at best a poor understanding of the 
>Constitution, the words and intentions of the framers.  Some even show 
>disdain for it.  How many Congressmen do you think ever read Thomas Paine's 
>works?
>
>
> >Crypto anarchy is about undermining democracy, causing the house of cards 
>to collapse.
>
>
> >>I refuse to give up on our way of life, my fellow citizens, or to write 
>off my government as completely and irredemably lost.
>
> >You are welcome to "refuse to give up on our way of life." Many others 
>over the centuries have similarly refused to give up on royalism...I hear 
>there are even clubs where people pretend to be various archdukes and 
>viscounts, and even fan clubs for the grandchildren of royals deposed 75 
>years ago.
>
> >Maybe there will be fan clubs for "democracy supporters." Maybe they will 
>even launch little wars agains the royalists.
>
> >Democracy will soon be consigned to the dustbin of history.
>
>I hope representative government is not.


_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp