[AndyJackson]

Private institutions, large or small, do not coerce you into interacting with them.

Good grief, where do you live - on a mountain top in Idaho?

I suppose my interaction with PEPCO (Potomac Electric Power Compay) is entirely voluntary and any time I choose I can decide to go without electricity. Likewise I can dispense with the services of Verizon. Can I dispense with interacting with the bill collector trying to collect a bill for a service I never purchased?

I suppose the coal miners in West Virginia who protested mining conditions did have the right to pack up and leave and seek employment elsewhere - as soon as they settled their debts with the company store and the company housing authority, etc.

[brazzaville]

Good evening.
"Good grief, where do you live - on a mountain top in Idaho?"

No, a hillside in northern California.

I've yet to see a legitimate business in the private sector incarcerate anyone for refusing to do business with them.

The company store slavery argument was valid at one time but not in this time, in this century.

You can, in fact choose to do without the power company. There are several alternatives and none of them are forced on the consumer. You can go with some other phone service whenever you decide to without worrying about their agents fining you into penury, taking your property or burning your house.

As to that bill collector, Not much I can say about that. I've been there and fought the long fight to get it straightened out. Things like that happen but they are aberrations and you generally have recourse. That is often not the case in dealings with the government.

Michael Frazier