Kara wrote:Quote:Let me see if I understand ... I give up all my freedom and you provide me with security.
First of all what need have I of security in a cage... after I abandon all freedoms ... what is left?
Second, how am I to deal with the next 'protector' I run into with a bigger head of cheese?
Gelisgesti wrote that.
I wonder if some world leaders, whom we want to deny the weapons that we have by the hundreds or thousands, might ask the same thing. We are offering them "security" in exchange, right?
The flaw in Gelisgesti's statement is his use of the word
all in place of the word
some.
When one agrees to live in a republic one gives up
some of his freedom. For example one gives up his right to do certain things differently than the majority requires. One weighs the benefits of that tradeoff versus the penalties. One can choose to lose his right to do certain things in exchange for obtaining more security for the rest of his rights. One's alternatives are either:
(1) comply with the law;
(2) comply with the law and try to persuade others to support
some of one's desired changes to the law;
(3) risk being caught and punished for violating the law;
(4) move to another country whose laws are thought by one to be more acceptable.
So this is what Gelisgestri might have more accurately posted:
Let me see if I understand ... I give up
some of my freedom and you provide me with
more security of the
rest of my freedom.
First of all what need have I of more security of the
rest of my freedom... after I abandon some of my freedom ... what is left? Clearly the
rest of my freedom is left.
Second, how am I to deal with a would be securer of
some of my freedom that I run into who offers to make
some reduction of my freedom in exchange for
more security of my reduced freedom? Obviously, it depends on
what freedom is to be abandoned to obtain
what additional security of what reduced freedom.
For example, the would be securer might say:
(1) I'll provide you with more security for 65% of your yearly income, if you reduce your choices of how you earn that income; or,
(2) I'll provide you more security from terrorist murder for less transaction privacy, if you reduce your freedom to maintain your current phoning and banking privacy.
What would you choose?
Of course, some of us are desirous of
some increase in our freedom at the expense of
some loss of the security provided our freedom. For example:
(1) some want more freedom to become the best they can be in exchange for less security for remaining where they be;
(2) some want the freedom to work toward the development of their own nuclear weapons in exchange for decreasing their security from invasion by potential invaders who want to stop proliferation of nuclear weapons.
