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Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!pwa-b!mmintl!franka
From: franka@mmintl.UUCP (Frank Adams)
Newsgroups: net.politics.theory
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Newsflash! [JoSH on Socialis
Message-ID: <749@mmintl.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 28-Oct-85 20:28:38 EST
Article-I.D.: mmintl.749
Posted: Mon Oct 28 20:28:38 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 31-Oct-85 22:58:18 EST
References: <876@water.UUCP> <28200222@inmet.UUCP>
Reply-To: franka@mmintl.UUCP (Frank Adams)
Organization: Multimate International, E. Hartford, CT
Lines: 34

[Not food]

In article <28200222@inmet.UUCP> nrh@inmet.UUCP writes:
>  I'm pointing out that what you're calling our current system
>is in fact quite varied, and not all under one authority, so it's hard
>to tell whether we really have "one system", except for purposes of
>discussion.

What makes our system a system is that those agencies in it mutually
recognize each other's right to engage in coercion in certain realms,
and do not recognize the right of those not in the system to engage in
coercion.  (To forestall possible criticism, it is not necessary that
there be complete agreement on which agencies are permitted which actions.
A broad consensus suffices.)  (Note that under this interpretation, parents
disciplining their children are acting as part of the government.  This
is stretching the usual meaning of government a bit, but I believe it
is essentially accurate.)

It would seem that under an anarchist libertarian system, anyone might
legitimately decide to undertake coercion on any scale, if justified by a
prior act of coercion on the part of those they are acting against.  Such a
system strikes me as incredibly unstable, mostly due to two factors: 
(1) disputes about whether an initial offense occurred
(2) over-reaction to offenses
This is the stuff of which generations-long feuds between clans are made of!

About the best that could be hoped for coming out of such a situation is
for a network of (police) agencies to come into existence, which do not
permit new police agencies to operate unless assured of their reasonableness,
and which eliminate or forcibly reorganize their own members when they
stray.  I have another name for such a network: a government.

Frank Adams                           ihpn4!philabs!pwa-b!mmintl!franka
Multimate International    52 Oakland Ave North    E. Hartford, CT 06108