[clue-talk] The War On...?

[Timothy Klein]

On Dec 29, 2004, at 1:56 PM, Don Collier wrote:

>  In my opinion, every American has a duty to obey the law now matter 
> how unjust that we feel it is.  There are ways to make your voice 
> heard other than breaking the law.  We cant pick and choose which laws 
> that we wish to obey

I disagree.  An unjust law should not be followed by the citizens -- 
period.  Of course, the citizens should be willing to add doing time to 
their protest, too, and non-violence is critical, unless the law is 
particularly heinous.

The hard part is deciding what unjust means.  America's drug laws are 
almost certainly 'unjust' in a very real sense, but I am not sure that 
disobeying them is requisite.  And then there are laws that I, 
personally, find unjust, but that I recognize benefit the society as a 
whole, which means I should follow them.  Like prescription drug laws.  
I am perfectly capable of doing enough research (including consulting 
my doctor) to know when and what drugs I might need for my health, and 
the government has no place telling me I can't buy those drugs via 
whatever channel I choose.  I also recognize that our society 
desperately needs laws governing who can buy and sell prescription 
drugs, as most citizens are incapable of looking out for themselves 
here.

> When you find those documents I would be interested in reading them.

Seems like _Civil Disobedience_ by HD Thoreau would be a good place to 
start.

But in this issue, there is no civil disobedience.  But, it is also 
patently ludicrous that a crime  which caused no physical harm, (and in 
all likelihood fairly minimal actual monetary loss: the numbers bandied 
about for copyright holder losses are completely fanciful), should have 
the potential for such a long sentence.  There is one reason for this:  
bought and paid for legislation.

The greater good is not being given even the slightest consideration by 
lawmakers -- they are accepting (obfuscated) bribes in exchange for 
stiff laws in an attempt to shore up the bottom line of companies 
unwilling to confront the 21st Century.

Tim
--
Timothy Klein: tecce at silverklein.net
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