Now we're getting somewhere
[B said:
Pericles[/B]]
Well regulated militia = no monopoly of force.
Only if one has the right to resist unjust use of the militia with force.
Here we find a crux of the matter.
At the end of the day the choice boils down to whether people will work for their freedoms. Some will, many will not. In this, people are readily predictable in the sense that they always operate based on the cost/benefit relationship. So long as the
perceived benefits of being subdued by others outweighs the
perceived costs, people will tolerate their condition. It is as simple as that. But there is more.
Note I qualified cost and benefit with "perceived", perception being a key factor in all of this. One of the interesting and perhaps little noticed side-effects of allowing oneself to be trespassed upon if that of acclimation. When I trespass upon you in a seemingly innocuous and therefore "harmless" fashion or degree, you rapidly acclimate to the new condition - and here we are talking long-term persistent aggression and not some "oopsie" transient condition that rapidly vaporizes. The condition remains a fact over the long term, perhaps even being "permanent".
Repeat the above situation over and over again in small, "tolerably-sized" slices and two things happen. Firstly, the standard of judgment is lowered. What was intolerable today becomes tolerable tomorrow, then accepted, then welcomed, and finally, demanded. Secondly, as the habit of tolerance for trespass grows, the tolerance of how thick the slices are grow in lockstep. A century ago, "they" had to tread very lightly, each new trespass having to be very thinly sliced so as not to earn the displeasure of the mob. Compare that with the rate at which trespass has ramped up just since 9/11/2001. The bites get larger and larger, the power seekers treating us with ever bolder contempt and bald-faced avarice. By the old standard, those in power are unspeakably brazen. By tomorrow's standard, they may yet be regarded as tame.
The direction in which things are heading is crystal clear, and even so people have not jumped on the warpath, but are only stirring in the weakest and most timidly ventured manner of the wretched milquetoast.
The worst of it is that the deeper into tyranny we fall, and here I speak of the American form of tyranny which is the worst in human history for reasons I will not go into, the more difficult it will be to extricate ourselves. At this point I still see a thin possibility of restoration, but it is sublimating away into vapor more with every passing day. So many people have lost the ability (or never acquired it) to think clearly. Worse yet, they hold no attitude of the will to do so. For them, the benefits they perceive still outweigh the costs. So long as that remains the case, we ain't going anywhere but further into the darkness.
Let us summarize in some pseudo-code.
For those ruled.
Cost-benefit conditions:
If ( cost < benefit )
do nothing
Perceptions:
If ( trespass <= "tolerance" )
do nothing
tolerance == acclimate_to( trespass )
explosive_tolerance_limit++
For the rulers.
While ( tolerance !> explosive_tolerance_limit )
trespass( tolerance)
enforce( trespass, selective, without_mercy )
If ( exceed( explosive_tolerance_limit )
new_trespass == back_off( trespass, smidge, waitsee )
If ( new_trespass < explosive_tolerance_limit )
call_it_good_and_proceed_with_next_trespass()
else
repeat
Claro?
