Originally Posted by pj
In one of the two forums I participate in from time to time, an
off-topic discussion has started about the whole "Global Warming" thing.
I was asked point-blank how a "reasonable person" such as myself could
hold the views I do. (The questioner doesn't know me very well, obviously.)
Here is how I tried to answer that. It isn't eloquent or concise, but it
does give a pretty fair outline of my secular view of government:
--
Maybe you are finding my arguments annoying because they really do come
more from an anarchist perspective. I'm not a true anarchist, though I
was at one point. Some government, I believe, is necessary - simply
because of human nature. Sadly, human nature will also ALWAYS exploit
the power of government.
Let me sum things up as concisely as I can, in the most general terms
possible:
Here we have the government - US, "world community," and most troubling,
the UN, telling us there is this huge crisis that is threatening life as
we know it.
Those governments then tell us the only solution is more government -
and GLOBAL government at that, via Kyoto!!!
Isn't your BS detector blowing right off the scale here? Mine is... and
has been since this whole things started a very long time ago.
One of the headline stories for Time Magazine yesterday was "Climate
Change: Case Closed". Oh, really? We have finally reached that point in
human history where we can close a line of scientific questioning with
absolute certainty? Apparently so, when the "solution" is to pillage the
strongest wealth creators in the world.
If Kyoto is a solution, why does it exempt China and Russia, two of the
most "egregious" CO2 producers in the world because of their still
backwards but explosively growing economies?
Even if there were a real crisis - be it this or any other - government
is the LAST place rational people should be investing their trust to
come up with solutions. That being said, government is the LAST source I
am going to believe and put any faith in to discern crises in the first
place. People thrive in SPITE of government, if they can. Businesses
prosper in SPITE of government, when they can. Government produces no
wealth... it is a parasite, existing primarily to increase its own power
and wealth. (When was the last time any politician retired poor?)
You asked why a "reasonable person" such as myself would hold these
views. I don't know how else to put it - other than to begin to get into
some of my personal experiences with involvement in research and
activism, which I'm not going to do here. These are the views of one man
- and apparently not so terribly convincing views as all that. I DO have
a fear for our future and some very real crises - government growth,
curtailment of liberty and the ability of humans to create wealth, forge
their own futures and create their own solutions, government
indebtedness, economic manipulation... and mostly, the ever growing
promise that "they" will take something from you and give it to me if I
just play along with them.
Perhaps you are finding out I'm not really so reasonable as all that. I
have been called an "Extremist" - back when that word was originally
being demonized way back in the early '90's. I wear that label proudly,
as I earned it by loving liberty and through my faith in humans to solve
their own problems - if they are simply allowed the freedom to do so.
That's enough of a dissertation for this morning. I'm off to another
LONG day of creating wealth for myself and my family... after the
gumment takes their not so insignificant bites out of it.