[Legislurker]

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D$D, most of us tend to think very short-term. "Suddenly disappear"? No. But neither you nor I can possibly forecast what's going to be in a hundred years. My grandfather is 96. When he was born, there wasn't the sound of airplanes filling the air, cars on highways and people on cell phones. He was in shortpants when he saw his first airplane, in his late thirties before he had a telephone. Heck, he was in his late twenties before he had a toilet that didn't require putting on shoes to get to. Could anyone have predicted the OUR age? And changes are going to come even faster, and more often.

The govt is going to have a helluva time regulating the Internet, and they are never going to be able to regulate personal behavior. Child porn is reprehensible, but they haven't been able to stop it on the Net, despite the huge amount of time and resources put into doing so, AND the fact that the majority of us want it stopped. Even we, the massive percentage of people who want child porn ended cannot make it happen.

There is the free market, and then there is our desire for satisfying our needs. The second is unquenchable and the first finds a way to satisfy the need. Always. Trying to come up with regulations mandated by the UIGEA that work will be impossible. If it were possible, it would have already been done. Months ago. The only thing that is stopping the work-arounds are the regs haven't come out. The moment they do, the machinery will start to process it and find ways to screw up the regulators. The Treasury and banks have already said they cannot stop checks. I have made an easy wire transfer and the site has sent me a check. Simple. If it's easier than that, the regulations are screwed.

It's only a matter of time before the DOJ goes after a poker player, and only a matter of time before it goes to court, where all this will come down to whether or not we have the right to do as we wish in the privacy of our own homes. When that happens, the govt will lose and they KNOW IT! That's why it hasn't happened. They aren't stupid. They know how far they can go, although both are quasi-arguable at this point.

You're younger than me, but you're thinking older than me. You are thinking the system in place is all-powerful. It's not. In fact, it's relatively impotent. It comes from the people. If the people say "No More," the system is finished.

There is, at some point in the future--near or far--a revolt coming in this country that may be spread around the world. We will pay taxes, when we believe those taxes are well-spent. Right now, most of us question whether that is happening. We really are beginning to believe they aren't. The Internet is going to be the key to this, too. The point will come when something is going to spark the revolt. The word will go out on the Net. People are going to skip over the politicians and take to the streets, now known as the Internet. They are going to refuse to pay their taxes until something is done. The govt will be helpless. It cannot put us all in jail. There will be no money for it. Nor for cops or prosecutors, judges or jailers.

We have no way of knowing where this is all going. The one thing we do know is that it really is going. The Internet is still only in its first stages. No one knows how much power it has. But, the power of communication is the most powerful on Earth, and the Internet is the way it will spread faster than anything we've ever known.

Here's an example. I have a blog and an Internet radio show. I can say anything I please. The station is not subject to the FCC. The govt cannot shut me down for using the f-word. Suddenly, the govt is irrelevant. That's how it's going to happen.

Our system has been the best man has ever devised, but it was thought up by people who couldn't conceive of where we are now. What will follow will be something perhaps even we can't conceive. True democracy. The power of the individual to promote, foster and demand change. This is what will make the politicians quake in fear.

What's gone on in the last eight years has done more to push this than we might imagine. As they've lost control over us, they've tried even harder to make us bend to their will. It has not worked. It will never work. What we, here, personally, have seen is the beginning of the end of a dying system.

I wish I could be here for all of it. The new world may not be brave, but it will be new.

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I am of the opposite opinion. People may want change, but its similar to what I used to discuss with my Chinese friend about why the COmmunist Party won't be overthrown there by the people. Some of the arguments work here, and a couple of others. I guess my core assumptions are this. 1) We are too rich. You talk about your grandfather, how much richer were/are you than he was at your age? In terms of what you can buy and do more than bank account wealth. People are at heart, conservative. If its working, don't rock the boat. Incumbant politicans who are lucky nothign bad happens on their watches are re-eclected ad nauseam. Toss in being loss-averse(not risk averse) as a facet of human nature, the system will stand strong as is. The late 19th and early 20th centuries had strong, principled Anarchist associations, and they didn't succeed in changing the world.
People always went back to what they thought would make them rich, secure, and safe. Stupid sheep, maybe, but we are [censored] stupid animals in a herd. I wouldnn't mind a Revolution, hell I might be up there with the whore on the beast shouting for manna, but I can't see a snapping point coming. Maybe the agitators are just too far away from normal people to get an ear, and they need a messenger. Until the world comes crashing down, you won't see normal Americans in the street demanding change. Their big screen TVs, Canadian pot, and fake titted wives are too nice to leave home.