Subj : Behind the politics To : Richard Falken From : Lee Lofaso Date : Mon Aug 26 2019 05:28 am Hello Richard, >>Obligatory "new to FidoNet" statement. >> >>What I want to know from everybody is what one or few principle(s) you >>derive your politics from. What principles lie behind your support for >>policy X or behind your opposition to policy Y? What is the point of >>politics? On what criteria do you measure or judge a society? > >I mainly guide myself by the Non Agression Principle. In >essence, it means I don't care what you do as long as you are >not causing trouble to other people. IOW, you are declaring yourself to be a chicken. Not just chicken, but *a* chicken. One that goes cluck, cluck. I believe in democracy, where the rule of law is king, as decided by "we the people". That means people have rights. Not just a few privileges handed out to them by the very wealthy elite. The act of voting is a violent act. The most violent act one can do in a democracy. The wealthy elite do not like that, which is why they clamor for voting purges and voting suppression and other ways in which the act of voting can be curbed or denied. The state of California allows individuals to register to vote as young as age 16, although the act of voting is still restricted to being a minimum of age 18. Why not lower the age of voting to the same age as one is able to register? Certainly that makes more sense. One does not have to be able to read and write to qualify to vote. So even the excuse of not being old enough is horse manure. It used to be one had to be rich, white, educated, owner of property, and way past their teenage years to vote. Women could not vote. Black folks could not vote. Native Americans could not vote. Poor folks could not vote. The uneducated could not vote. This country was ruled by snobs. And it is snobs who want to return us to the days of old, where only snobs could vote. I choose to aggressively exercize my *right* to vote, and also to encourage all others to exercize their own *right* to vote. And also to expand that right to vote so that same right can be enjoyed by all - including infants (okay, their parents might have to vote by proxy so their voices can be heard). As long as an individual is alive, he/she should have the right to vote. From the time he/she comes into the world, until the time he/she leaves this world. >In practice, I don't mind if you are gay or trans or whatever >as long as you don't cause trouble to others. I also don't mind >if you have a doomsday bunker full of weapons just in case WWIII >happens, as long as you mess with nobody. And yet such people are banned from serving in the military, due to the president having a hissy. If he had his own way, none of them would have the right to vote, as he does not consider them as being people. >I believe that organizations are composed of people, and that >you don't have magical rights to do bad things just because you >are in an organization. For example, if people does not have the >right to confiscate your yard and build a fracking extraction >rig without your permission in your garden, a corporation, which >is composed of people, doesn't have it either. If I don't have >the right to force you to buy insurance from my cousin's >insurance firm, the government, which is an organization made >of people, does not have the right to force you to buy insurance >from a friend of some minister. The courts have ruled a corporation is a person. At least the courts have not granted them the right to vote. However, those corporations have other means of voting. >I also think democrazy needs hard limits to prevent it from >becoming too evil. This is why you have armored constitutions >and the like, so people cannot vote basic civil rights off the >law. Otherwise it would be too easy for big groups to abuse >small groups. Democracy needs limits like people need a hole in their head. The right to vote is a violent act, the most violent act one can do in a democracy. The right to vote should be expanded, as it is this violent act that keeps democracy strong and flourishing. --Lee -- Pork. The One You Love. --- MesNews/1.08.05.00-gb * Origin: - nntp://rbb.fidonet.fi - Lake Ylo - Finland - (2:221/360)