Tom Vogt writes:
>Gil Hamilton wrote:
> > So, to take this argument back to its roots: You apparently would argue
>that
> > the mafia, being a voluntary association NOT established entirely within
>the
> > framework of the legal system, retains its owners' natural rights to
> > collect, own and use information as it sees fit without regard to
>arbitrary
> > government edicts, while Microsoft, being entirely a creation of the
>State,
> > has no such right?
> > > That is indeed a bizarre result.
>
>indeed it is.
>
>the fine point is that M$ in return gets rights the mafia has not. so in
>practice, you're possibly better of the M$ way (the sheer number of
>corporations proves this). it's just that should the government fall,
>M$'s "rights" (created by the government) will fall as well. the mafia's
>"rights" (created by its own guns) do not.
I suppose it wouldn't be productive to point out the "rights" that the
government has recently given Microsoft (rights to be hounded, threatened,
sued and disassembled by the usual government bureaucrat- thieves).
> > You still seem to be maintaining that, because the details of corporate
> > ownership and operation are subject to governmental regulation,
>therefore
> > the business that is represented by the corporation, and by extension
>its
> > owners, retains none of the owners' rights.
>
>I maintain that the owners have given up their personal rights in
>exchange for government-created corporate rights. as long as the
>government is stable, that is usually a good deal.
A good deal? You sound like one of those politicians that's always telling
me that what they want to do to^H^Hfor me is in my own best interests, and I
really should be glad to help out. (And if I'm not, well, it must be
because I'm "selfish", "mean-spirited", "intolerant", "reactionary" or
"elitist".)
Fortunately, in the US at least, it is still a widely held belief (or at
least, whether they believe it or not, politicians still feel compelled to
give lip service to the belief) that government does not create rights.
Rather rights are held to belong to individuals and government is not
empowered to destroy or deny those rights. Likewise, rights are not "created
by [] guns", only protected by them.
- GH
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