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From: mcewan@uiucdcs.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: Comments on the Libertarian Platform
Message-ID: <29200172@uiucdcs.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 11-Dec-84 18:37:00 EST
Article-I.D.: uiucdcs.29200172
Posted: Tue Dec 11 18:37:00 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 13-Dec-84 00:47:56 EST
References: <2775@ucbcad.UUCP>
Lines: 41
Nf-ID: #R:ucbcad:-277500:uiucdcs:29200172:000:1731
Nf-From: uiucdcs!mcewan    Dec 11 17:37:00 1984

>	>	How often does the government kill people? Certainly you don't
>	>	get killed if you don't pay taxes. You just get dragged to jail
>	>	and locked up, at worst.
>	
>	Normally this is true, but only because they don't need to flaunt power
>	that everyone knows is there.  Whether you're killed or not depends on
>	how far you want to take things.  Consider what would happen if the IRS
>	decided that you owed an extra $1,000 in taxes; you disagree and decide
>	to stand up for your principles:
>	
>	GOV: You owe us $1,000.
>	YOU: No I don't, and I'm not going to pay it.
>	GOV: Since you didn't pay your taxes, we'll give you a last chance to
>	     pay the $1,000 plus penalty and interest.
>	YOU: I didn't owe you the money in the first place.
>	GOV: Very well, you're going to jail.  Report first thing in the
>	     morning.
>	YOU: I will do no such thing.
>	GOV: OK, we'll send some men to take you to jail.
>	YOU: I will resist them, since I never owed any money.
>	GOV: BANG!
>	YOU: 
>	
>	The record will show that you were killed for resisting arrest.  This,
>	however, is only the last in a chain of increasing punishments.  So the
>	question is, at what point do you give up?  Most people give up before
>	being killed, because they know that the consequences only get worse as
>	you go along.

You left out the part where the police officer is arrested and charged
with murder. It may come as a shock to you, but the police (or anyone
else, for that matter) can't legally execute someone for resisting arrest.

I hope I didn't ruin your day by introducing a little reality into your
paranoid fantasies.

			Scott McEwan
			{ihnp4,pur-ee}!uiucdcs!mcewan

Just because something is obvious doesn't mean that it's true.