Pete and Henry's weapon ownership discussion

[Pete Zicato]

Originally Posted by henry quirk

I guess I'm a minarchist, or extreme libertarian...but you can just call me Henry.

As I see it: the only real reason to have 'government' is to encourage people to mind their own business and keep their hands to themselves. Sure, gov (just hired hands, proxies) should act as final arbiter in contract dispute, and provide a certain degree of resource management, but -- mostly -- gov should leave people alone, and strongly encourage folks to leave other folks alone.

That is: gov, on all levels, should be minimal, distant, mostly silent, and narrow.

I don't think that's enough. Most people, left to their own devices will do whatever they think they can get away with. Cynical, I know. And I never thought I'd end up this way, but there you are.

I think there's a lot of things that should not be 'left alone'. I don't think laissez faire works. I think the EPA is sorely needed so that we don't wind up with an uninhabitable world. I think that rules are needed or we'll have chaos.

If I have some time, I'll make up a complete list of what I think government should and shouldn't be responsible for.

Originally Posted by henry quirk

And we, the 'governed' should never let our servants, the 'governors', forget they're just employees with lent and limited power.

That, we agree on.