AC and power

[xorbie]

I was going to make this a very long and well thought out post but basically I'm lazy.

Given: We have guns and money in our society.

Given: We want to move to AC society, but we theoretically still have guns and money (or wealth, if we decide to abandon the dollar... we still have things worth something to people).

How exactly are we to stop some group from having the same control over people that governments tend to now? The problem, as I see it, is that the government does NOT have a monopoly on coercion. It has a legal monopoly, but that means little without the power to enforce those laws, which by definition is the power necessary to coerce in the first place. Laws by themselves are meaningless. In some parts of the country/world, violent mobs have more power and more ability to coerce and "tax" citizens than the governments which theoretically rule over them. What is to stop this from happening in AC?

Just in the interest of intellectual honesty, I should say up front that I believe that strong culturally reinforced rules are necessary to some extent. I don't think AC people disagree, but I take issue with some of their cultural norms (i.e. libertarian morality).

[bkholdem]

Step 1: we take the government d&*k out of our mouths.


by libertarian morality what do you mean? link?

[theweatherman]

At least there will be one less mob to forcibly coerce and tax us.

[xorbie]

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by libertarian morality what do you mean? link?

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wtf?

[bkholdem]

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by libertarian morality what do you mean? link?

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wtf?

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I want to know what YOU mean by libertarian morality, you know, to possibly engage in a discussion about it.

[xorbie]

I just see libertarian morality, generally, as the maxim of: "freedom to do what I want until it conflicts with your freedom". Fairly standard.

[bkholdem]

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I just see libertarian morality, generally, as the maxim of: "freedom to do what I want until it conflicts with your freedom". Fairly standard.

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Can you consicely describe the moral code you adhere to (and I'm assuming that you think others should adhere to and maybe even be forced to adhere to...otherwise where is the conflict?)

[xorbie]

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At least there will be one less mob to forcibly coerce and tax us.

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Until another one comes, sure.

[theweatherman]

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At least there will be one less mob to forcibly coerce and tax us.

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Until another one comes, sure.

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I'm no Acist but i definitely support the A part. So in this scenario use your guns and keep the new group from messing with you. Then live however you want.

Of course, as they say, AC is no utopia. However I doubt that any single group could ever rise to the level of omnipotent power that the state wields today. The state has had the benefit of thousands of years of evolution and complacency with which to establish a perceived legitimate power base. Even in the police state that is America there is no way the government could control the population except by the population's consent.

How would a private mob ever gain more power than the state? Seems impossible to me

[Dan.]

The mob doesn't need to be omnipotent, just powerful enough to affect you and your's. ACists will of course claim that everyone will ban together to ousts the mob. I'm skeptical of that to say the least.