The Values-Vote Myth

[John Kelsey]

>From: "J.A. Terranson" <measl at mfn.org>
>Sent: Nov 6, 2004 5:07 PM
>To: Tyler Durden <camera_lumina at hotmail.com>
>Cc: rah at shipwright.com, cypherpunks at al-qaeda.net
>Subject: RE: The Values-Vote Myth

>On Sat, 6 Nov 2004, Tyler Durden wrote:

...
>> So: A 'moral values' question for Cypherpunks. Does this election indict the
>> American people as being complicit in the crime known as "Operation
>> Freedom"? (I notice everyone forgot about that name.)

>Complicit?  Thats *technically* correct, but not nearly strong enough.

Similarly, if I hold some stock in Exxon, am I complicit in every crime done by the management of Exxon?  How does this change if I'm a child whose trust fund contains the stock?  Or if I hold a mutual fund I inherited with a little Exxon stock, which can be sold off only if I'm willing to move thousands of miles from my home, learn a new language, uproot my family, etc.?  Is there any outcome of the election that would have made it immoral to attack Americans?  (Certainly not electing Kerry, who planned to continue holding down Iraq for the forseeable future, though he correctly stated that invading it was a mistake in the first place.)  

And if we accept this kind of collective guilt logic, why is, say, flattening Fallujah to make an example for the rest of Iraq, wrong?  

> -TD

>J.A. Terranson

--John