[extropy-chat] Public Transportation (was suitcase nukes)

[Mike Lorrey]

--- Brian Lee <brian_a_lee at hotmail.com> wrote:
> There is no "right" to driving a car on a congested highway. Nor is
> there a "right" to having a fast computer.

Actually, the common law right to travel in one's personal conveyance
on the public rights of way is, in fact, a right going back to the
magna carta and was the key right in helping the serfs free themselves
from the feudal system. This is one of the unenumerated rights
protected by the 9th amendment.

When you are not being paid to carry passengers or cargo, you are not
"driving" nor is your auto a "vehicle", nor are you exercising your
"operator" rating on your 'drivers license'. These terms are all terms
of art that signify commercial activity, not personal activity and can
only apply to you if you are being paid to drive a commercial vehicle
or if you own and operate a vehicle (and pay yourself or someone else
to drive that vehicle).

While you can disparage this legal position, it was the sole valid one
up until the Roosevelt packing of the courts in the 1930's, resulting
in vast expansions of the definitions of 'commerce'.

Furthermore, there is also a right on the part of craftsmen to purchase
whatever tools of their trade they can afford which is 'state of the
art'. This is another common law right that the trade guilds fought for
way back when and is based on Aristotle's declaration that mans natural
endowment of the hand gave him the right to wield any tool the hand can
handle.

> 
> The problem is that lots of people driving on a highway with huge
> cars 
> impedes the rights of others. One of the purposes of tax law is to
> guide 
> taxpayers towards acts deemed moral or desired by the government:
> i.e. 
> buying a house, having children, donating to charity. So tax cuts on
> cars 
> that are smaller or use less gas or pollute less would be a way to
> encourage 
> people away from buying suburbans as daily commuter vehicles.
> 
> To pre-emptively address some responses: of course some people need 
> suburbans because they have tons of kids or live in the mountains or 
> whatever. Most SUV drivers don't "need" them specifically and current
> tax 
> law encourages SUV purchases (small business tax breaks on 6000lb+
> vehicles, 
> registration fees by cost not by weight, etc etc).
> 
> BAL
> 
> >From: Mike Lorrey <mlorrey at yahoo.com>
> >To: ExI chat list <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
> >Subject: Re: [extropy-chat] Public Transportation (was suitcase
> nukes)
> >Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 06:48:03 -0800 (PST)
> >
> >
> >--- Bret Kulakovich <bret at bonfireproductions.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > And with the new 2005 sedans averaging 200+ horsepower - I think
> we
> > > need to start hitting these excessives with some sort of
> additional
> > > tax. (There. I said it. And me of all people.)
> > >
> > > Because the average commuter rail train comes out to 3 horsepower
> per
> > > rider, and the average sedan on the highway is carrying one
> person,
> > > perhaps 2.
> >
> >Imagine if people said that about computer megaflops. Rights aren't
> >about needs.
> >
> >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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> 
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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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