[extropy-chat] 70% oppose resumption of military conscription

[Mike Lorrey]

--- Samantha Atkins <sjatkins at mac.com> wrote:
> On Jun 25, 2005, at 5:38 PM, Mike Lorrey wrote:
> >
> >
> > Depends. What is the militia? It is the whole of the people, as the
> > founding fathers said. How does one mobilize the militia?
> 
> Who says that "one", e.g., government is not charged with mobilizing 
> the militia by force at all.  If the people believe war is necessarly
> then ample volunteers will come forth.  If not then either you are in
> over your head or the war is not the will of the people.  The Us has 
> no business forcing some of the people to risk their lives in a cause
> they do not believe in.  This is slavery of the worse sort.

Is forcing someone to pay for their negative externalities "slavery"? I
think not, nor do any rational libertarian thinkers (like Friedman,
Rothbard, etc). Many a polluter will claim their pollution is not
harming others and refuse to pay for their damage.

Those who refuse to vote against promoters of bad foreign policies here
commit a negative externality, a sin of omission (i.e. voting for
politicians who treat terrorism as 'a crime' to be prosecuted, or
refusing to vote). Those who make excuses for and apologies for foreign
tyrants who commit great evils and injustices, and paint our own state
as a greater evil (as Chomsky, et al do) also commit a negative
externality. 

The above logic, however, only applies to libertarians. Statists cannot
enjoy its benefits because they do not believe in it. Statists, being
statists, initiate force against others 24/7/365. They accept as a
given that the state has a right to use its power to make people do
things they do not want to do, generally because the state was
popularly elected. People who believe in statism of any form therefore
do not have a right to object to a draft, or refuse to be drafted. They
have consented by their willing agreement to use force unjustly against
their fellow citizen, in confiscating income, land, or lives to serve
their own needs (subsidized housing, crops, disaster protection, drug
wars, etc) to have the same done to themselves by the state. Thus, no
statist can rationally object to being drafted into public service of
any kind.

> 
> > Enforcement of the laws is a time honored use of the militia, going
> > back to the days prior to William the Conqueror, when the English
> > system of constables and shire reeves was all that was needed to
> > mobilize the people for either law enforcement or military defense.
> 
> Ever hear of Posse Comitatus?    It is not an American or libertarian
> honored idea that it is fine to use the military for law enforcement.

Posse Comitatus is a law that dates from the post-Civil War
reconstruction era, which was passed along with a number of Jim Crow
laws to protect locals intent on killing and lynching uppity freed
slaves from being pursued, caught, and prosecuted by federal forces.

> 
> >
> > We don't live in the middle ages any more, though, we are not a
> simple
> > agrarian feudal society. Society is complex and our laws are
> complex,
> > and our Constitution, our highest law, recognises the legal weight
> of
> > treaty with foreign nations as law, subject only to judicial
> > interpretation in cases where they conflict with other law.
> 
> Are you sure you are a libertarian?  The freedom of the people shall 
> not be abridged by a legitimate government.  An illegitimate  
> government should not be supported and should be opposed.   The Bill 
> Of Rights is part of the highest law.  It was expressly designed to  
> keep the newly formed  government in check.   If any treaty or  
> domestic law violates any of these or their intent it must to the  
> maximum extent possible be treated as  null and void by free  
> persons.  Complexity is no excuse for condoning enslavement.

No, it isn't. However, all real libertarians believe in contract law.
If you engage in contract, in commerce, you are bound by the terms you
operate by. If you commit negative externalities against others, you
also can be forced to compensate for damages, even by indenturement.
Just compensatory indenturement is not slavery.

Mike Lorrey
Vice-Chair, 2nd District, Libertarian Party of NH
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom.
It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
                                      -William Pitt (1759-1806) 
Blog: http://intlib.blogspot.com


		
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