Sixpence: So Democracy is just a bunch of thugs forcing their will on others? And you call this accurate? That's not what I said. Democratic arrangement of society and society free from oppression are two quite independent concepts. Orthogonal in mathematical terms.
What I said is that the presence of democracy does not automatically mean absence of oppression. I never said that democracy necessarily means oppression. So
a particular democracy can be a "bunch of thugs forcing their will on others", that is quite accurate. Ours is certainly included. A majority vote or a bunch of a people appointed by a person(s) elected by majority vote can take away a person's property, children, etc. if they decide his/her property can be better used "for the benefit of society" as they or their contributors perceive it or if they believe his/her ideas of raising children do not correspond to their standard - all that even when that person did not commit agression or pose danger to other members of society.
I may be slow, but I am not talking in circles. You state that making the family care for their disabled child is oppression, but forcing people to pay tax dollars for the state to take care of them is oppression. I do not see how that statement makes sense with "but". If you insert
"and" instead of "but" it would be in accordance with what I am saying.
So if the majority wants "X" amount of dollars spent on the military, the minority who don't are being oppressed? That is how our system works. The legitimate functions of the state - defence and justice - are a separate issue. It's a very complex question and depending on social organisation it can constutute or not constitute oppression.
If a bunch of amish invade our neighbourhood and you chose to defend against them, you would certainly be oppressing me if you forced me to join you. On the other hand a non-oppressive social arrangement may exist that obligates me to join you in defence or forefit my social rights.
I am not in the majority so I am being oppressed? That doesn't fly Miko. Here is an apt analogy. You are not free if you wear a long leash that is not pulled tight at the moment. You are not free if you willingly go on the slack leash where the master would want you to go. You are not free if you approve of the leash. You are not free if you learned the limits of your leash. You are only free if you wear no leash.
So you are comparing this to a decision by a judge to make a family care for a disabled family member? The detalis are different. The root is the same - unlimited power. Here a judge made family care for a disabled member. There a judge ordered a person sterilised. Over here a judge ordered slave returned to it's owner. Out there a judge ordered a man released from 10 years of wrongfull conviction to pay $140,000 back child support. In here a judge grants children custody to non-working mother rather than a working father. Whatever. All happened in US. Sure, we voted- by majority - and racial slavery got outlawed. That means if we voted to make racial slavery lawfull, it would be - and apparently you would be fine with it.
Not to mention comparing 2003 U.S. Democracy to to 1939 german politics. You might as well compare it to the spanish inquisition. You mean they did not have a democratic republic - created there by none else than US? They certainly did.
So we watch kids die because they do not believe in medicine? Well, two hundred years ago such democrats as you would watch kids die because you
did not believe in medicine - and democratically burned the family for wichcraft.
Now you would take children away from parents because you do not believe in God but believe in all kind of pseudo-scientific crap passed on as science. And have temerity to call it "separation of church and state".
Basically, what you saing is that you do believe to have right to force me do things you want even if I have not threatened or aggressed against anybody. You believe that I am not oppressed just because you offer me a chance to register my futile disagreement in your vote. And you promice that you would subject yourself to any kind of request if my opinion comes to be a majority.
So what? I do not care to have a slave and I do not want to be a slave. There are things in my and my family's life that should never be a subject to vote of busybodies like you because it does not concern you.
I do not need a master. And what a low maneuver it is to suggest that I do. I do not need to be forced to help others. Force will only discourage me. There is nothing but the purest negativity and hate in the insistence that another human may not live his peaceful, non-aggressive life as he sees fit.
Socialism... confuses the distinction between government and society. As a result of this, every time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all. -- F. Bastiat
There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters. -- Daniel Webster
miko