Its a problem, alright. I'm not sure what the solution is, which is part of why I'm so frustrated all the time. Most people can't even comprehend the definition of the word "violence.' I never said that those who come into a cop's crosshairs are "angels." I do think most of them shouldn't have been bullied to begin with. Take a crack user, for instance. Morally, in my mind, that's wrong, similar to how getting drunk is wrong. That's a vice, not a crime. I know you already know that, but I'm just clarifiying what my position actually is. I really, really like the idea behind the FSP. I'm not in a position to be able to participate right now, but I really like the principle of the whole thing. Living around people with similar philosophical principles would definitely make a lot of things easier, and it would mean not almost having to give tacit approval to the legalized violence (or shut up) just to live our daily lives.
The problem here is that the only people that have the philosophical approach that you're describing to consider the overall scheme illegitimate is libertarians in general. The vast majority of those that end up in the cops' crosshairs are those that likely aren't angels themselves and thus have brought themselves knowingly or unknowingly into a crash course with them. The govt won't crumble as long as the people writ large still use their money and believe in their system. The most likely method of this concept panning out prior to libertarians winning elections to significantly change things from the bottom up or the top down is Bitcoin fleecing interest in the current financial system. The FSP was setup for such a similar way of life but even that kind of realization doesn't come overnight and likely takes more than a lifetime. Principles can't flourish in this current environment w/o some pragmatism to get the ball rolling in our direction. had to crop cuz message was too long
This is tough, even for me, because like everyone else I know a cop who's a respectable, nice guy. I alluded to such in the conversation I linked you to at the beginning of this conversation. But, at the end of the day, no matter how professionally they may act, is being a government cop really a legitimate profession? I don't think so. Because it requires you to bully people who haven't harmed anybody else, even if you do it "professionally." I guess the way I see this is, and maybe I'm wrong, but it takes 51% of the population to change something with an election, but if 10% of the people were convinced that this government was illegitimate, and were aware of the existence of that 10%, it could crumble just like that. This isn't a criticism of you, BTW. We need people who can talk to the masses at their level. I'm arrogant as all heck precisely because I know I know better and most people don't. Which doesn't "work" even if it is right.
The thing is, times are ripe for more libertarians to be elected to help pare back the scales of govt and then keep accelerating this as it proves itself to be more beneficial in the peoples' eyes. The less resources the police have, the more accountability will be required of them. Elections are tests of the masses and what they're down for. For me, I see the police quite regularly in my daily life and they always act professionally. All I can say is PDs are affected by political pressure and if libertarians have more say in office, the more affect they can have over the police through politics and media pressure.
I don't even drive fast either. I still pretty much view people who make a living stealing money from people who "drive too fast" and people who smoke certain plants (I don't do illegal drugs either) as being "bad people." I was curious what your thoughts on it were. I'm with you on electing more Rand Pauls, but I don't think that's really the solution. The only way I see this system changing is delegitimatizing the system. People need to wake up and realize that the government are NOT their legitimate masters. Then social pressure needs to be put on those who would be cops or soldiers for a living, as it would have been for soldiers and tax collectors in 1st century Rome. The problem now is that most people are brainwashed into thinking that their immediate rulers are "Putting their lives on the line" even while they criticize the government for being out of control.
Seems like a preaching to the choir exercise. Speed limits aren't really my thing as I normally follow them almost to a T, tho I used to drive fast when I was closer to your age. Again, the whole cop thing is what it is and unless you get more libertarian republican reps and senators in your legislature, then there won't be any political weight being mounted to reign in police standards and bad behavior.
Hey, as our resident "Sane" ancap, I'm curious what your thoughts are on the conversation I'm having here: http://ericpetersautos.com/2014/02/1...comment-145437 (I'm "David" on there). You don't necessarily have to join to post, you can post as a guest, and I did so for awhile before joining.
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