And yes the message board format is a little disorienting. The last time I was on one, was around 2005. I will get more used to it though.
Different BB forums have different features. The one they do share is text formatting to
emphasize a
point. One of the ways to learn or re-learn BB code is to click the quote button to be able to see how certain tricks are done. Then hit the back button. And as always, just ask if you get stymied.
I think the first difference of our views, stems from the question "by who's authority?"
I agree with you that our difference surrounds "authority". As you are not the first person I've had discussions with regarding how you just described authority, A definition I most vehemently disagree with for reasons I hope to convey, You have actually done me the favor of triggering a possibly better way to describe why my definition is what my definition is.
In my opinion authority exists beyond an individual. If you are surrounded by a group of people and they insist you do something "or else" then ,at least at that time they have authority.
Many people think as you do on this point. I always, and as strongly as I can present, accuse such definitions as being made by people who confuse extortion as authority.
Extortion is not authority!<digression>
This triggers a bewildered wonder on my part, trying to figure out how people come to that
belief. I specifically use the word
belief and not the word
conclusion. If something has not really been thought about and examined with critical thinking, then the result can not be a logical conclusion. Emotional conclusions... I see boatloads of that all around me. I've read enough of your words to know you are a critical thinker, so that doubles my curiosity on how you got to equating extortion to authority.
</digression>
I know I can sway you with reason, so although we don't agree on certain things, I'm already enjoying the discussion. Of course, the fact that we seem to agree on other things gives me good feelz.
To emphasize the difference in thoughts of myself and many others, I've a scenario of comparison. Two different situations, both exactly alike except for one difference:
In both situations a motorist has a gun pointed at them, and the person holding the gun yells, "GET OUT OF THE CAR!" In the first case, the gun holder is a car-jacker. In the second, the gun holder is a cop.
Both demands are extortion. PERIOD. Do what you are told or be hurt. The indoctrinated believe the cop has "
authority". The cop does NOT and I can prove this. For now though, I'll just make the presently unsupported claim that both situations are exactly the same.
Here's where I inject the thought you triggered (thanks); Does the car-jacker own the motorist or their car? Does the cop own the motorist or their car?
Taking my cue from the Declaration of Independence:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all humans are created with an equal lack of authority over any other humans; that they are endowed by their Creator with inherent and unalienable rights; that among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, it is the right of each individual to proclaim and enforce the You Don't Own Me standard against any and all who would attempt to enslave any human.I have a 30 step examination of authority, starting anywhere in the chain of alleged authority climbing up the chain to its alleged source, "
We The People".
Then there is this stubborn logic: Nobody can delegate something they do not possess or own.
[...] at least at that time they have authority. Regardless if it is moral or not.
It's not. To attempt to argue otherwise is to attempt to argue that it's moral for some humans to be treated as property, as slaves, by other people.
Most people, as a norm tend to congregate in groups of like minded people. While at times force need not be used to encourage their views, there is always that threat.
That threat violates the
YDOM Principle. That threat is tyranny of the majority.
"
Most people ... congregate in groups."
Nobody can delegate something they do not possess or own. Thus even when congregated into groups, the collective still does not have authority over any
person human (corporations are "persons"). To argue otherwise is to argue the congregation as an entity owns some human.
This [threat] will exist beyond any form of government.
I parse that as "
This threat of harm to humans by humans will exist beyond any form of government."
In fact at least with how the United States government was founded, it was originally meant to protect you from a group of people trying to force you in a certain direction.
I have no choice. I must parse your words as "
How the United States criminal extortionate syndicate was founded."
Quoting Lysander Spooner's 1870 Treatise
NO TREASON:
"
But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain – that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it [the government]
is unfit to exist. "
And while I will be the first person to say that the US Government has strayed very far from that noble goal there are still many benefits to it, the law, at least to an extent, still protects people from mass rule better than anarchy would.
What you call a
noble goal, I call
smoke and mirrors. I would be happy to detail the smoke and mirrors.
What you call
the law, I call
politician's opinions. I would be happy to detail why those opinions are based upon non-existent authority. If you haven't figured out my claim of no authority by the
Declaration of Liberty and
YDOM Principle (YDOM P not fully presented).
I parse
to an extent to mean
not always.
Not always means instances of missing protection.
Protection from what? I find there's some frayed loose ends here. I'm going to need some detail on what, exactly, you mean by
mass rule. For instance, maybe an example of a rule that has some negative consequence to which you actually see as a (potential) problem. And wouldn't
mass rule be
mass law?
Protects people ... better than anarchy wouldProtection and security from harm seems to be the friction point between liberty purists (anarchists) like my self, and anybody wanting government of any type. With you being what I call a minarchist, as it were.
As part of my ongoing... education... in discussing the government - no government issue, I must admit that Protection and security from harm is presently an undefined, unexamined issue. This is where the minarchists attack the anarchist's position. You've earned my respect, so I'm happy to discuss this issue with you. The Bigarchists, the Statists, with their worship of government... Such discussion is not gonna happen.
So my seed for the next set of comments is:
What, specifically, and projected, are the things humans need protection and security from.?