Since you believe government to be force, and nothing but force, it's perfectly logical that you oppose it with no attempt whatsoever to address complexities. Just please don't complain when it behaves as the enemy you have made it, not as the servant (of "solid citizens" only, granted) it was designed to be.

I did not say that it was only force; it is also incompetence, evil, ignorance and several other things.

However, it was not me that created the monster. It happened long before I was born. The great depression was caused by the central bank along with the monetary policies of the central government. Why should I yell hallelujah that the government did help a few get even more wealthy?

The government has been killing innocent people all my lifetime and it was on every continent on the planet. Do you really thing that government will stop the murders simply because Obama is president?

Voluntary cooperation, sure. Except that I specifically reject the private in favor of the public.

The is no such thing as "public" voluntary cooperation, if by that you mean government. It is the same thing as our school saying that you must do voluntary service. Mandatory voluntary service? That is what you are saying you favor.

Arne. Maybe you can elope today? I wonder what will happen tomorrow. Does the rain in your area fall mostly upon thee plains?

Plan to marry as fast as you can!

Invite 242? He can bring Rush L.?

He smokes a corn-cob pipe too.

242 chews corn on the cob.

He bores wedding guest.

COB~Chairman of bores.

I did not say that it was only force; it is also incompetence, evil, ignorance and several other things.

Seriously, you are too funny. What you're doing here is espousing a religion. But I respect the consistency of your principles.

However, it was not me that created the monster. It happened long before I was born. The great depression was caused by the central bank along with the monetary policies of the central government. Why should I yell hallelujah that the government did help a few get even more wealthy?

Historically, government has not been made to look good. It has "issues" and I think we agree what those are, generally.

But shall we then define it by its worst behaviors? Shall we say, "Government, children, is when the horsemen come and rape you and kill your parents and burn your hut"? Because I heard that happened a few times.

The government has been killing innocent people all my lifetime and it was on every continent on the planet. Do you really thing that government will stop the murders simply because Obama is president?

But I never said that. Never. I don't believe it. I don't expect it. Rather, I have stated that I intend to watch him closely if he is elected. He is not the Messiah.

The is no such thing as "public" voluntary cooperation, if by that you mean government. It is the same thing as our school saying that you must do voluntary service.

Again, this is your "belief," and I can see that it is quite a bugaboo for you. It would sicken me too, but I wouldn't stand for it and I don't fear it.

I would go with Machiavelli (quoted in the new thread), who implied that princely power might be decreased if people actually work together toward what they commonly want. Here, if voters voted for what they want---not WHO they want, not HOW they are told---we might get somewhere. People might start thinking that they are getting something in exchange for the taxes they pay if they actually see themselves getting something back for the taxes they pay. OMG! Voluntary! Collectivism! Government as something positive, not entirely negative!

After all, even Grover Norquist pays for food and shelter. Is it a tax? Is it voluntary? Is it mandatory? Is it something else?

Mandatory voluntary service? That is what you are saying you favor.

No. Again, look up the concept of the consent of the governed.

Mandatory voluntary service? That is what you are saying you favor.

Then again, maybe not too far off, since consent is itself an apparent contradiction, or a resolution of the same one we are discussing. But I'd say you have the wrong end of the stick.

If we all agree not to pee in the sink, then is it mandatory or voluntary when we run to the bathroom (so inconvenient!)?

blockquote>

It will take a public warning or two to whoever starts these things....

... and those that carry them on. It takes two to tango. And I can't imagine who that might be.

Cheers,

Nice way you cut the context out with the snippage --- nice.

However, the point remains. If one gets attacked by the slim masters who live in these comments area, Glenn wants the attacked party to ignore them, and then we all leave them alone to be slim masters as long as no protracted fight breaks out.

Fair?

(not that it matters --- it is Glenn's blog and his way is the rule)

You say that "The great depression was caused by the central bank along with the monetary policies of the central government," but I took pains to state that in my view this is a red herring, and that cycles of boom and bust would occur even if there was no fiat money at all, but only gold, silver, and copper, exchanging at their naturally-arrived-at market values. I said that this was because of the inherent instability of the mechanism within the investment market that allocates a proportion of production to producer goods, which will be used to produce the next cycle of consumer goods, and I cited Keynes as confirming this view. I also mentioned that the theory that monetary policy is the cause of cyclical instabilities in capitalism is one of the foundations of political anti-Semitism.

On a lighter note, I spent the last hour trying to corroborate a story I found on Hezbollah's english-language website, according to which a dissident Israeli professor had just exposed a narrowly aborted Mossad plot to blow Lebanese General Michel Aoun's head off, using a booby-trapped camera, Ahmed Shah Massoud style. It turned out to be an utter fabrication, so it appeared on my blog for about an hour and then I removed it, feeling a bit silly. I suppose this is what comes of reading Kansas O'Flaherty comics.