Re: OT: We're From The Government...

> =A0 If the bill passes, all that is needed is for the Governor to
> > "declare that an emergency exists that is considered detrimental to > > public health" _or_ to declare a general state of emergency. > > So what? There's nothing new about that. > > > =A0 Thereafter, all civil rights are effectively suspended. No warrants > > are required for your door to be kicked down; the State may announce > > that it thinks you _may_ have been exposed and are required to be > > relocated to a quarantine site, the State may DESTROY your home and / > > or possessions if it _thinks_ those may cause infection upon exposing > > anyone to them, and ban the right of free assembly. > > Nothing new about that either.

Nothing new about it right! Rule by decree by kings and dictators is as old as history. Freedom is the NEW idea! Obviously you prefer traditional methods but fact is that by making exceptions for "emergencies" is simply an open invitation for politicians to create them. The Yoo Kay suspended all elections during WWII, the Yew Ess did not. Want to be dictator for life? Just keep the emergencies coming. It's traditional.

What is not new here are people who are so gullible as to not figure this out themselves. Somehow you actually trust politicians and government to be honest. No wonder they call you "slowman".

More or less representative governments - the Dutch and Venetian Republics - behaved the same way, for the very good reason that this is about the only approach that works in times of plague."Freedom"may be a new idea - though it wasn't all that new when your founding father wrote their constitution - but it is not a particularly helpful idea when you are dealing with a plague.

When they work.

It's difficult to fake a plague, and dangerous to create a real one. Even the most despotic ruler is vuknerable to infection, since they can't isolte themselves from contact with the agents who exercise their despotism if they want to hold onto power.

So that's why Dubbya invaded Irak? Didn't do him much good, did it.

Like you figured out that Dubbya was being "selective" in his presentation about Saddam's weapons of mass destruction? When we were discussing the proposed invasion of Irak in this user-group, back before it happened, I was highly - and as it turned out - correctly, sceptical about Dubbya's justifications for the invasion. I don't recall that you were one of the other sceptics.

Only when they are between a rock and a hard place - and run-away infectious diseases do have a way of influencing people's behaviour. A plague won't make a government honest, but the government has a vested interest in retaining a population to govern and tax. Read up on the social consequences of the Black Death.

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-- Bill Sloman, Nijmegen