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Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Re: [OT] political action call


From: Adrian Irving-Beer
Subject: Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Re: [OT] political action call
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2004 10:41:47 -0400
User-agent: Mutt/1.5.5.1+cvs20040105i

On Tue, Jun 22, 2004 at 03:03:16AM -0700, Tom Lord wrote:

> People who are polarized by the issues you cite are fools because,
> once those issues are settled, they are the next in line for
> gov'tal abuse.

Well put.

As an outsider looking south, I see a a country that prides themselves
on issues of liberty and freedom.  Yet I've often been astounded how
so many people jump at the opportunity to deny a freedom to the rest
of the country based on their own moral code.

Apparently, there are many conflicting viewpoints across the country.
Some believe in killing their children, because (right or wrong) they
have not achieved self-awareness yet.  Some believe in killing their
criminals, because (right or wrong) one killing deed deserves another.
Some want gun control, since guns kill people; some want gun rights,
since guns only kill people without guns of their own.

The fallacy is not in having multiple opinions (moral or otherwise);
it is in believing that one can set national policy to encompass
*every* belief of such a mélange.  Ergo, letting any government set
enforced national policy without ubiquitous approval seems to be an
act of slow liberty castration.

Every time you break this policy, you set the sort of precedent that
will someday come back and bite you in the rear.  Tom's point above (as
I read it) aptly demonstrates the old poem by Pastor Martin Niemöller,
albeit in less drastic terms:

        First they came for the Jews
        and I did not speak out
        because I was not a Jew.
        Then they came for the Communists
        and I did not speak out
        because I was not a Communist.
        Then they came for the trade unionists
        and I did not speak out
        because I was not a trade unionist.
        Then they came for me
        and there was no one left
        to speak out for me.

                  (Note: Not making Nazi allegations, honest.)

Applied to this situation:  Unless you act, by the time a government
(any government) begins targetting liberties that *you* hold close, or
setting policies that *you* deem abhorrent, there will be a long-
standing tradition of setting any policy that any segment of the
population deems correct -- or that is convenient to base an election
campaign on.

However, I'm afraid I don't know enough about your politics to
contribute any more than that.  My general suggestion is to pick the
less extremist candidate, because they're the one that won't go
outlawing things left and right.  Take that as you will.

Sorry to butt in, neighbours. :)

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