Nacht und Nabel

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Tue, 20 Jan 2004 13:00:00 GMT
# From this Claire Files Board post, a Joan of Arcadia quote from last Friday, 1/16/04. I forgot to watch this episode, but I'd guess that the "Cop" was probably Joan's father.
Protaganist (a cop, naturally) and his wife are trying to check into a new-agey type resort. Clerk sees the protaganists's gun and tells him he can't have it.

Cop: "I'm not giving up my gun."
Clerk: "Sir, you don't understand. Violence offends us."
Cop: "Violence offends me too. That's why I'm not giving up my gun!"

# The History Place - The Night and Fog Decree - compare Hitler's Nacht und Nabel with Bushnev's secret arrests. [smith2004]

# N. Stephan Kinsella at LewRockwell.com - What It Means To Be an Anarcho-Capitalist - why a libertarian must be an anarchist. [clairefiles]

Libertarian opponents of anarchy are attacking a straw man. Their arguments are usually utilitarian in nature and amount to "but anarchy won't work" or "we need the (things provided by the) state." But these attacks are confused at best, if not disingenuous. To be an anarchist does not mean you think anarchy will "work" (whatever that means); nor that you predict it will or "can" be achieved. It is possible to be a pessimistic anarchist, after all. To be an anarchist only means that you believe that aggression is not justified, and that states necessarily employ aggression. And, therefore, that states, and the aggression they necessarily employ, are unjustified. It's quite simple, really. It's an ethical view, so no surprise it confuses utilitarians.

Accordingly, anyone who is not an anarchist must maintain either: (a) aggression is justified; or (b) states (in particular, minimal states) do not necessarily employ aggression.

...

As there are criminals and socialists among us, it is no surprise that there is a degree of criminal-mindedness in most people. After all, the state rests upon the tacit consent of the masses, who have erroneously accepted the notion that states are legitimate. But none of that means the criminal enterprises condoned by the masses are justified.

# Fred Reed at LewRockwell.com - A Brief Textbook of American Democracy - how American politics really works. [lew]

(8) The US government consists of five branches which are, in rough order of importance, the Supreme Court, the media, the presidency, the bureaucracy, and Congress.

The function of the Supreme Court, which is both unanswerable and unaccountable, is to impose things that the congress fears to touch. That is, it establishes programs desired by the ruling political class which could not possibly be democratically enacted. While formally a judicial organ, the Court is in reality our Ministry of Culture and Morals. It determines policy regarding racial integration, abortion, pornography, immigration, the practice of religion, which groups receive special privilege, and what forms of speech shall be punished.

...

(11) Finally, people do not want freedom. They want comfort, two hundred channels on the cable, sex, drugs, rock-and-roll, an easy job and an SUV. No country with really elaborate home-theater has ever risen in revolt. An awful lot of people secretly like being told what to do. We would probably be happier with a king.

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