[66269] in Cypherpunks
Re: Mercenaries
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Rabid Wombat)
Mon Sep 23 20:15:30 1996
Date: Mon, 23 Sep 1996 17:56:11 -0400 (EDT)
From: Rabid Wombat <wombat@mcfeely.bsfs.org>
To: "Timothy C. May" <tcmay@got.net>
Cc: cypherpunks@toad.com
In-Reply-To: <ae6b6f8f06021004fe67@[207.167.93.63]>
>
> _Almost_ more important to me than "libertarian" ideals are "consistency"
> ideals: namely, that there oughtn't to be laws which are not enforced, or
> which are too expensive to enforce, or which can be selectively enforced.
> And since I know that the full suite of laws, all 25,000 or 45,000 of them
> (on all 27 linear feet of bookshelf space) cannot possibly be consistently
> enforced, I favor a "minimalist" or "fallback" position of having
> relatively few laws, covering mostly "crimes" which are more easily
> detected and prosecuted (with draconian punishments).
Nice idea, but it will never happen. All those laws are the result of two
things; law makers, who feel they are elected and paid to make laws, and
the sort of people who feel they have the "right" (legal, moral, who
knows?) to do whatever isn't strictly prohibited.
-r.w.
