Right to Privacy

[2manyrocks]

"We cannot expect the Americans to jump from Capitalism to Communism,
but we can assist their elected leaders in giving Americans
small doses of Socialism
until they suddenly awake to find they have Communism."

- Soviet -Russia Leader ~ Nikita Khrushchev, 1959

What gives me the right to tell all the rest of you what to do?

Then nothing gets done. So suppose we agree to contribute to building a road that we all use. No problem there because we agreed to it.

On a certain level, we are operating by mutual agreement. The government undertakes certain activities "with the consent of the governed." The underlying premise is that the government acts in a representative capacity on behalf of all of us to accomplish that upon which we have agreed upon.

From that idea, if there is very substantial opposition to something, perhaps it's something we ought not to undertake because concensus is lacking and out of respect for the freedom of others.

But when any group goes beyond consent and starts operating in opposition to the consent of the governed, call it whatever you want--there have been various names for it in history: slavery, depotism, dictatorship, communism, etc.

I remember LBJ from living through those years and not because of what somebody wrote about him in a history book later. I remember people being sent to a place they didn't want to go for a cause they didn't support. I remember what came after him. Stagflation from overspending, interest rates that destroyed farmers and some guys in Iran thumbing their noses at the USA for months on end. The ghettos are still there. Although we have some well paid civil servants, we still have poor people among us.

If you really think the government acts out of compassion remember what I said about the defenseless, blind, bedridden, old lady in the nursing home for whom the government denied benefits.

The politicians pass programs because it means votes for the politicians, but the folks who do the work get the bill for their benevolence and for their reckless spending and governance.

I know a guy who murdered his estranged wife and her two elementary age children. The evidence that sent him to death row was an enhanced 911 tape of the children pleading for their lives. It's been over 20 years, and he's still sitting on death row. Those kids should have been grown and having families of their own by now. The state should have carried out his sentence a long time ago.

Government wasn't viewed as a friend of the people by the guys who wrote our Constitution. They knew what it was like to live under the thumb of a king. They wrote our Constitution to put limits on the government in order to protect our rights and freedoms. Each generation has the responsibility of protecting those rights and freedoms and passing them on undiminished to the next.

 

[FallbrookFarmer]

What gives me the right to tell all the rest of you what to do?

Then nothing gets done. So suppose we agree to contribute to building a road that we all use. No problem there because we agreed to it.

On a certain level, we are operating by mutual agreement. The government undertakes certain activities "with the consent of the governed." The underlying premise is that the government acts in a representative capacity on behalf of all of us to accomplish that upon which we have agreed upon.

From that idea, if there is very substantial opposition to something, perhaps it's something we ought not to undertake because concensus is lacking and out of respect for the freedom of others.

But when any group goes beyond consent and starts operating in opposition to the consent of the governed, call it whatever you want--there have been various names for it in history: slavery, depotism, dictatorship, communism, etc.

I remember LBJ from living through those years and not because of what somebody wrote about him in a history book later. I remember people being sent to a place they didn't want to go for a cause they didn't support. I remember what came after him. Stagflation from overspending, interest rates that destroyed farmers and some guys in Iran thumbing their noses at the USA for months on end. The ghettos are still there. Although we have some well paid civil servants, we still have poor people among us.

If you really think the government acts out of compassion remember what I said about the defenseless, blind, bedridden, old lady in the nursing home for whom the government denied benefits.

The politicians pass programs because it means votes for the politicians, but the folks who do the work get the bill for their benevolence and for their reckless spending and governance.

I know a guy who murdered his estranged wife and her two elementary age children. The evidence that sent him to death row was an enhanced 911 tape of the children pleading for their lives. It's been over 20 years, and he's still sitting on death row. Those kids should have been grown and having families of their own by now. The state should have carried out his sentence a long time ago.

Government wasn't viewed as a friend of the people by the guys who wrote our Constitution. They knew what it was like to live under the thumb of a king. They wrote our Constitution to put limits on the government in order to protect our rights and freedoms. Each generation has the responsibility of protecting those rights and freedoms and passing them on undiminished to the next.

So, NOBODY wants to watch the video?

 

[MossRoad]

Moss;
BIG difference that I have pointed out before,all the services that you mention(police, fire etc) are taxed at the local level.

They are all socialist programs.

 

[FallbrookFarmer]

They are all socialist programs.

No, they are programs in any functioning society, be it capitalist, communist, or socialist.
My point AGAIN, is that they being taxed at the local level is which is what is SPECIFIED in the Constitution.

 

[dave1949]

Dave,
In my time I have seen innocent people go to jail and be executed,and when you think that the government is not the driving force behind it you IMHO are being naive.
You don't have to look to far to see examples of what I'm talking about. If you want, I can trot some out. But I think that you can think of many examples yourself

Oh, I am aware of that. Many of those people exhonerated by DNA are examples. Also police and prosecutors can be highly 'selective' as to how they go about enforcing the laws. There is no doubt, if a person finds themselves in serious doo doo in the legal system, they better have a darn good lawyer; innocent or otherwise.

I would guess, certainly don't know, that grand juries seldom reject the charges presented to them by prosecutors. That is an entirely one-sided gov't operation where the potential defendant has no rights - except perhaps privacy.

In the end though, it is a jury that ultimately determines your fate. I don't know of any crimes that carry a mandatory death penalty.
Dave.

 

[FallbrookFarmer]

Oh, I am aware of that. Many of those people exhonerated by DNA are examples. Also police and prosecutors can be highly 'selective' as to how they go about enforcing the laws. There is no doubt, if a person finds themselves in serious doo doo in the legal system, they better have a darn good lawyer; innocent or otherwise.

I would guess, certainly don't know, that grand juries seldom reject the charges presented to them by prosecutors. That is an entirely one-sided gov't operation where the potential defendant has no rights - except perhaps privacy.

In the end though, it is a jury that ultimately determines your fate. I don't know of any crimes that carry a mandatory death penalty.
Dave.

Trust me on this one Dave, I HAVE experience
If government really wants you to go away, you WILL.

 

[2manyrocks]

They are all socialist programs.

The dictionary definition of socialism is "any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods."

Key word in that definition is "collective or governmental ownership of the means of production. "

The fact that we agree to provide for police, fire, schools, etc. does not in and of itself establish socialism. Socialism steps from "collective or governmental ownership of the means of production." Socialism means taking the means of production from the people and putting it under governmental control.

The Nazis were socialists, and remember how that turned out?

Stalin advocated collectivism, and remember how that turned out?

Think of what you were taught about FDR. Were you taught that his economic and political policies prolonged the Great Depression? Were you taught that he ran all over the constitutional rights of Japanese Americans in depriving them of their businesses and homes?

Remember the saying, "absolute power corrupts absolutely?"

Our Constitution was intended to limit the power of government to prevent these kinds of abuses. So the government chips away at the freedom of speech. So the government chips away at the freedom of religion. So the government chips away at the freedom of peaceful assembly. So the government chips away at private property. So the government chips away at the implied right of privacy. So it chips away this right and that right and pretty soon you have no rights, and you have become a slave of the state.

 

[brin]

The dictionary definition of socialism is "any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods."

Key word in that definition is "collective or governmental ownership of the means of production. "

The fact that we agree to provide for police, fire, schools, etc. does not in and of itself establish socialism. Socialism steps from "collective or governmental ownership of the means of production." Socialism means taking the means of production from the people and putting it under governmental control.

The Nazis were socialists, and remember how that turned out?

Stalin advocated collectivism, and remember how that turned out?

Think of what you were taught about FDR. Were you taught that his economic and political policies prolonged the Great Depression? Were you taught that he ran all over the constitutional rights of Japanese Americans in depriving them of their businesses and homes?

Remember the saying, "absolute power corrupts absolutely?"

Our Constitution was intended to limit the power of government to prevent these kinds of abuses. So the government chips away at the freedom of speech. So the government chips away at the freedom of religion. So the government chips away at the freedom of peaceful assembly. So the government chips away at private property. So the government chips away at the implied right of privacy. So it chips away this right and that right and pretty soon you have no rights, and you have become a slave of the state.

I totally and completely agree with this and your previous post...Very well said !

 

[MossRoad]

No, they are programs in any functioning society, be it capitalist, communist, or socialist.
My point AGAIN, is that they being taxed at the local level is which is what is SPECIFIED in the Constitution.

Social Security is a federal program.

 

[MossRoad]

Think of what you were taught about FDR. Were you taught that his economic and political policies prolonged the Great Depression? Were you taught that he ran all over the constitutional rights of Japanese Americans in depriving them of their businesses and homes?

I was taught with a map that showed the USA larger than the continent of Africa or the country of Canada. :laughing:

I wasn't taught much from the viewpoints of other countries in grade school or high school. I read about lots of this stuff well after school was over. I just learned a couple weeks ago that Japan was on the side of Britain in WWI, and while the U.S. remained neutral a German citizen/soldier bombed a railroad bridge between Maine and Canada in an attempt to disrupt the possible movement of Japanese troops from west to east through the U.S. to get to England to help them fight the Germans.

We weren't taught much about the decimation of the native Americans by the Europeans, either back then.