[ale] Another Reason to use OSS in Government

[Benjamin Scherrey]

I'll break it down for Geoffrey in more simple terms...

1st email:
12/7/2002 8:22:24 AM, Geoffrey <esoteric at 3times25.net> wrote:
>90% ?  So where do you get your data?  Or is that just an ignorant 
>statement?
>
>Benjamin Scherrey wrote:
>> While I agree that that may be the assertion - I will also argue with you regarding its validity.
>> There is  a saying that we should not attribute to maliciousness that which we can account for
>> as ignorance. 
>> I'd say that this applies to about 90% of government actions/positions by its employees. The only 
>> question now remains how much to attribute to ignorance...

Do you even read the postings that you reply to? Its pretty clear that my message is that I disagree 
with 90% of what government (and its employees) do and that I wonder which part of their actions is 
purely malicious versus just plain ignorant. That is obviously an opinion so I guess the source of my 
data would be myself. Your's, evidently, is the ignorant statement. Should I presume that you agree 
with 90% (or more) of what government does?

2nd email:
Benjamin Scherrey wrote:
>> I'm not making such an assertion but I will say that one's morals often dictate who they chose as
>> an employer. Ever been audited?

>Sure, which auditors are you referring to?

IRS of course but I'm open to considering any other examples you have to offer...

>Again you come with these unsubstantiated statements.  Other than being
>your opinion, there's not much else.  In that case, I can easily say you
>are wrong.

Indeed - again my opinion based on first-hand experience but also well documented in the 
Congressional Record, newspapers, magazines, you name it. While you can easily say I am wrong 
you evidently chose to ignore such evidence or believe that government employees simply 
shouldn't be accountable for violating the law or human rights. Says more about you than it does 
about my opinions.

3rd email:
Benjamin Scherrey wrote:
>> The mob has been displaced by government. Only the mob was much more honest about its
>> intentions.

>You need help. really.

Please point out the flaw in the following comparison:
The initial impetus for the "mob" was protection from others through use of force. Once that outside 
threat was pretty much quelled the "mob" determined that it still wanted the protection money so it 
became the threat to be protected against. Since it became the law - it expanded into other 
businesses like prostitution and gambling and enforced a mob-controlled monopoly on such 
enterprises in order to ensure its own profitability and power base. The more enterprises it 
controlled, the bigger and more powerful it became until it had nearly abandoned and failed its 
original purpose because that no longer generated the profits it once had.

Governments were initially formed by groups of people banding together in order to protect life and 
property against the use of outside hostile groups through the use of force. Once these main threats 
were quelled it started looking inward for more dangers that needed quelling or became hostile to 
other groups not under its own protection in order to expand its power base. Due to its ability to 
exact tribute from those it "protected" through threat and use of force, it found that it could enact 
further laws and impose its will on other, more profitable enterprises and establish monopoly control 
over these new revenue sources by making them illegal for others to participate in. The more 
enterprises it controlled, the bigger and more powerful it became until it had nearly abandoned and 
failed its original purpose because that no longer generated the profits it once had.

What is the primary difference between these two entities? Well, governments tell you that its for 
your own good, it will help the children, and you aren't capable of doing this yourself. The mob 
doesn't bother with such platitudes. Oh and, nearly forgot, government murders more innocent 
people each year than the mob has in its entire existence. So I guess there is a difference after all!

	Ben Scherrey

..who believes in government that sticks to its Constitutionally enumerated responsibilities and 
leaves the rest to us.


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