Reboot to the year 1900

[brushfire]

With the exception of the constitution, just sunset all laws older than 5 years. It'll keep the little tyrants busy just maintaining existing laws.

 

[tod evans]

I've expressed this idea to several "old-farts" out here in the sticks and every one of them, regardless of political affiliation, could get behind this idea.

To a "T" they'd forego SSI, free medical etc. just so long as every politician, judge etc. were forbidden from ever holding public office again..

So the idea that old folks wouldn't give up their government bennies doesn't hold water in my very narrow circle...

 

[donnay]

I wish I could time travel-- I would go back to circa 1913 Jekyll Island and round up all those bastards and put them on trial for Treason.

 

[osan]

Interesting thought. That would leave us with the departments of: state, treasury, justice, interior and agriculture.

There would be no income tax

There is electricity, both AC and DC, street lights, street cars, motors, telegraph. There is limited radio and telephone but no television, computers, internet, or cell phones.

Money (FRN's) would probably not be worth much, other than a way to deal with the looming TP shortage and as fuel to keep warm.

Things like gasoline as well as everything else will become hard to find.

Lets take a look at a hypothetical. 2-3 high altitude EMP pulse (HEMP) bombs go off over the country and fry just about all electronics. It's worth noting that we don't make transformers in this country any more. There was a hurricane a while back, I want to say Hugo? Anyway, it took out so many transformers that it took 8 months to re-establish the grid down in FL because the transformers had to be ordered from Japan. What if we lost most of the transformers in the country? What if someone got pissed off at us and decided to embargo us?

Well, how would you fare in such a situation?

If you are dependent on maintenance drugs, you will most likely die.
If you live in a city, you will most likely die. - rioting, 3 days worth of food on the shelves, 1-2 weeks in distribution warehouses.
If you live in the suburbs, you have a fair chance of living. Problems are the people fleeing the city and limited space to grow food. Closer to farms though.
If you live in the country, you will probably survive. You most likely have to skills to be self sufficient, already are to some extent and are able to provide for others. This is 5% of our population.

How do you think you would fare in such a situation?

-t

Not quite sure how you leaped from rebooting to 1900 in terms of our political foundations and operations to an EMP frying every xformer in the nation.

But to answer your question, we are in the country. We have an orchard of fruit trees, berries of several varieties, livestock, and so forth. I would say that we would have a tough time even with almost 30K rounds of ammunition and gas wells. We, the people, that 5% to which you refer would have a tough time. Those in the burbs would be toast just as in the cities. I have lived in the burbs all over the nation - Scottsdale, Vancouver, Portland, San Mateo, Redondo Beach, Davis, Austin, Seattle, Altamonte, and so forth. There is nothing I have seen in those places to indicate that those people would last very long, particularly in the wake of roving bands of desperate city denizens, frightened, hungry, angry, and not in a very polite way.

Consider the actualities. If the world of Mad Maxx came to pass the logistics of getting food from farms to the burbs would be near-impossible at best in the shorter term. Some would grow their own, but what do they do until then? Lie down and die of starvation? Methinks not. They go roving to feed themselves and their children. How many farmers are going to cotton to the appearance of fifty strangers with sunken eyes and no hint of good manners remaining?

We are now structured such that we hang almost literally by threads. Knock out one keystone element and the structure may collapse completely. Remove petroleum and the west would collapse into a sinkhole the bottom of which no man has ever seen. Remove computer and other electronic technologies and the same result would befall us. We are SO painted into a corner that were the average numb-nut to realize it on a mass scale the nation would teeter on collapse for terror.

We are in it so deeply that even people such as myself would be shitting stones trying to get from one day to the next on his own. I can do a lot, but I cannot do it all because I don't know what Grizzly Adams knew. Few did even in his time. Therefore, you'd better hope like the dickens that such things do not come to pass because if you live you will do so only to your own wailing and the gnashing of your teeth.

 

[osan]

I wish I could time travel-- I would go back to circa 1913 Jekyll Island and round up all those bastards and put them to a quick and ignominious deathon trial for Treason.

Fixed that for you.

 

[Antischism]

Or we can just start by destroying the MIC, completely doing away with foreign aggression and intervention first and foremost. This country won't get anywhere unless we get foreign policy right; that's where we would logically begin. I'm not going back in time to anything or completely doing away with social programs from one day to the next, either. You PHASE THEM OUT, not destroy them and leave people starving in the streets or utterly helpless. That's ridiculous. Without the burden of military/overseas spending and aid, we can better prepare our country and help our own before we fully phase out the social programs and accustom people to being independent of government.

 

[tangent4ronpaul]

There are only three things I can think of off the top of me pointy.

1. a vast (90%) majority demanding it is very angry tones

2. open warfare and "we" actually win

3. a near-extinction level event

That about does it so far as I can see. 1 & 2 are about as likely as my dick shrinking to under 10 feet in length. 3, on the other hand... who knows...

Not quite sure how you leaped from rebooting to 1900 in terms of our political foundations and operations to an EMP frying every xformer in the nation.

hmmm.... you got it and then you don't understand...

-t

 

[tod evans]

Or we can just start by destroying the MIC, completely doing away with foreign aggression and intervention first and foremost. This country won't get anywhere unless we get foreign policy right; that's where we would logically begin. I'm not going back in time to anything or completely doing away with social programs from one day to the next, either. You PHASE THEM OUT, not destroy them and leave people starving in the streets or utterly helpless. That's ridiculous. Without the burden of military/overseas spending and aid, we can better prepare our country and help our own before we fully phase out the social programs and accustom people to being independent of government.

So you'd advocate to keep parts of the current government?

I'm dead-set against that, what we have has already proven cancerous type growth in only a few decades.

A reboot to 1900 and eliminating every single federal employee and all judges would permit an honest to goodness fresh start combine that with using only gold-n-silver as money and that would totally gut the military industrial complex.

Sure citys would crumble..........Good riddance!

Sure people would die, well we're all going to be in dire straights if things continue..

I can't get in line with social programs any more than I can get in line with pre-emptive war......Either the cancer gets cut out and irradiated or it continues to grow...

 

[pcosmar]

Fixed that for you.

I am generally opposed to bombings as a poor tactic. I might make an exception there.

Though a couple of skilled individuals with simple handguns would be a more sure solution.

 

[oyarde]

Interesting thought. That would leave us with the departments of: state, treasury, justice, interior and agriculture.

There would be no income tax

There is electricity, both AC and DC, street lights, street cars, motors, telegraph. There is limited radio and telephone but no television, computers, internet, or cell phones.

Money (FRN's) would probably not be worth much, other than a way to deal with the looming TP shortage and as fuel to keep warm.

Things like gasoline as well as everything else will become hard to find.

Lets take a look at a hypothetical. 2-3 high altitude EMP pulse (HEMP) bombs go off over the country and fry just about all electronics. It's worth noting that we don't make transformers in this country any more. There was a hurricane a while back, I want to say Hugo? Anyway, it took out so many transformers that it took 8 months to re-establish the grid down in FL because the transformers had to be ordered from Japan. What if we lost most of the transformers in the country? What if someone got pissed off at us and decided to embargo us?

Well, how would you fare in such a situation?

If you are dependent on maintenance drugs, you will most likely die.
If you live in a city, you will most likely die. - rioting, 3 days worth of food on the shelves, 1-2 weeks in distribution warehouses.
If you live in the suburbs, you have a fair chance of living. Problems are the people fleeing the city and limited space to grow food. Closer to farms though.
If you live in the country, you will probably survive. You most likely have to skills to be self sufficient, already are to some extent and are able to provide for others. This is 5% of our population.

How do you think you would fare in such a situation?

-t

Oh , I would be OK.

 

[Antischism]

So you'd advocate to keep parts of the current government?

I'm dead-set against that, what we have has already proven cancerous type growth in only a few decades.

A reboot to 1900 and eliminating every single federal employee and all judges would permit an honest to goodness fresh start combine that with using only gold-n-silver as money and that would totally gut the military industrial complex.

Sure citys would crumble..........Good riddance!

Sure people would die, well we're all going to be in dire straights if things continue..

I can't get in line with social programs any more than I can get in line with pre-emptive war......Either the cancer gets cut out and irradiated or it continues to grow...

No, I said it should be phased out, not cut off entirely overnight. It's pretty hypocritical to care about innocent lives murdered overseas by our foreign policy yet be okay with starving and killing off Americans by removing their livelihood from one day to the next. Not even Ron Paul wanted to eliminate all social programs right away.

 

[tod evans]

No, I said it should be phased out, not cut off entirely overnight. It's pretty hypocritical to care about innocent lives murdered overseas by our foreign policy yet be okay with starving and killing off Americans by removing their livelihood from one day to the next. Not even Ron Paul wanted to eliminate all social programs right away.

I really don't care about lives overseas, I care about the few sane and conscientious Americans who are going to end up paying the price of retribution for unethical aggression...Like my child.

If people "overseas" want to kill eachother then it's none of my business.

If people here in this country don't or can't support themselves and I have the ability to help some locally I will but I certainly feel no responsibility to support the behemoth of government and it's leaches.

As much as I respect Dr. Paul, and as logical as his approach is, I think we've passed the point of easing up on government freebies..

20 years ago easing up would have worked, maybe even 8 years ago.....maybe..

 

[mad cow]

Interesting thought. That would leave us with the departments of: state, treasury, justice, interior and agriculture.

~T4RP

We would still have ,and need,a War Department.I have got no problem with that,it is a much needed Constitutional duty of the Federal Government.

We could concentrate on eliminating the Departments of Interior and Agriculture.

 

[ThePenguinLibertarian]

I wish I could time travel-- I would go back to circa 1913 Jekyll Island and round up all those bastards and put them on trial for Treason.

The Jekyll Island meeting was in 1910, and it was private. America tried central banking since 1863/64 for more "stability" which also meant getting rid of the gold standard to pay for the civil war. You can't board them for treason, they did nothing to harm the united states. They just invented something really shitty, technically it is a good system because of its private ownership and public control (sarcasm) which is the basis of most modern economies (good cronyism) (save for switzerland, singapore and Australia). However, this sets up the opportunity for a crony system where public and private interests take the money for themselves under the guise of efficient and good government.

 

[ThePenguinLibertarian]

Seems like a good idea from here..

Repeal every law written since 1900,

Gold/silver backed currency.

Fire every politician and elected official and bar them from ever holding office again. Especially judges!

All federal agencies and programs not in existence in 1900.........Gone!


It'd only hurt for one generation that way.....

What about medical research. Basically all medical innovation came with something from the NIH.

 

[oyarde]

What about medical research. Basically all medical innovation came with something from the NIH.

Med research would be improved without govt hindrance, I imagine.

 

[muh_roads]

Our lives would be completely different today if we could travel back in time to 1913 and somehow erase that year from the books. There would be so much inherited wealth. But of course the wars would need to be stopped as well.

 

[tod evans]

What about medical research. Basically all medical innovation came with something from the NIH.

Why would we lose the research that's already been done?

Without government standing in the way and given todays technology, I can envision innovation medical breakthroughs coming at a much faster rate...

 

[1000-points-of-fright]

Seems like a good idea from here..

Repeal every law written since 1900

Good luck selling that idea to women. They kinda like voting.

 

[tod evans]

Good luck selling that idea to women. They kinda like voting.

Why couldn't voting rights be restored by a non-corrupt legislature?