[ExI] intellectual property again

JOSHUA JOB nanite1018 at gmail.com
Mon Mar 8 01:40:03 UTC 2010


On Mar 7, 2010, at 4:04 PM, Spencer Campbell wrote:

> How does the government punish itself for using the force necessary to
> punish others?
> 
> "Who polices the police". You may begin groaning. Still, it's a valid
> point. You can't just whip out a perfect system of law enforcement to
> solve your problems. The law has to enforce itself. Nothing else
> works; at least, not well.

Well, the government doesn't have to punish itself, because it isn't initiating force (as it is restricted only to punishing other people's initiation of force, it is, in essence, an institutionalized self-defense for the entire population). Since it can't initiate force, it cannot collect taxes, and can, at best, charge some small fee for certain types of services (like a "right to be enforced" stamp on an official contract, for example) and accept donations, those types of things.

And as for my preferred "who watches the watchmen", you'd have to make sure there are a number of internal checks and balances, preferably with a quite decentralized power structure, an ironclad constitution (no "necessary and proper" nonsense), and a way for the population to check the government (probably some form of voting, as well as an armed population, but lets not go into that as apparently that topic is dangerous round these parts).

What exactly do you mean "law that enforces itself", do you mean no government at all? Or just more obvious laws? Property rights, even in the "real" world, can be very difficult waters to navigate in the first place; it was a huge topic in the 19th Century (prior to governments claiming the right to regulate/control everything). And there are still issues today which aren't really settled. And as property rights are very important, I should think, any government at all that is involved in them will likely have a time creating laws that simply "enforce themselves", i.e. be so simple there is never any question and it is blatantly obvious to absolutely everyone all the time who is in the right and wrong. As property rights are vital for a government to enforce (if it is going to be concerned with enforcing anything, really), IP doesn't seem that much more complicated than the numerous issues involved in "material" property.


Joshua Job
nanite1018 at gmail.com






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