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To: Jim 0216
Right, but anything can be carried to a point where it's unrecognizable from its beginnings and even the right can go so far that chaos is followed by tyranny.

I would have to call you on facts not being in evidence here.

If by "Right" you simply mean the GOP, then you are correct, but that doesn't say much. If by "Right" you mean the push for the sanctity of individual freedom, then you have no evidence or even imaginable scenario to fall back on. At no time in human history has a push to decrease the power of the state ever directly led to a tyrannical state. Nor, is there an imaginable scenario on how it might. Note how different the French 'Rights of Man' are from our Declaration of Independence. Using the state to create any utopia can and will go astray, but eliminating the means does not result in a bigger means.

You wouldn't suggest that the Amish are going to naturally start driving giant tractors if they take their practices to the extreme? You might argue that they would stop using all tools and live in bushes, but not that they would turn full circle and start monster truck racing. I think one legitimate concern could be a reaction on the right so violent and unrestrained that we don't end up with the Constitutional republic and limited government that we long for, but a Robespierre-like bloodbath followed by who knows what.

If the "Right" is defined by the need to enforce religious morals or economic law using the power of the state, then you are correct. That is why I refuse to allow that to be posed as an alternative to socialism. The true alternative isn't another form of state controlled utopia, it is a small unobtrusive state that meddles as little as possible in as little as possible. Could anarchy be the result if pushed too far? Yes, but anarchy and state tyranny are not the same thing.

I think you are confusing the idea that all things can be taken to a harmful extreme with the notion that all political thought ends in state tyranny if taken to the extreme.

106 posted on 12/11/2010 9:42:15 AM PST by SampleMan (If all of the people currently oppressed shared a common geography, bullets would already be flying.)
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To: SampleMan
At no time in human history has a push to decrease the power of the state ever directly led to a tyrannical state.

I would have to disagree with you. Two examples would be the Bolshevik Revolution and The French Revolution and what followed each.

anarchy and state tyranny are not the same thing.

No but tyranny may very well follow anarchy and visa-versa. It's like maximum randomness on steroids. The answer is true moderation. Again, not the Leftist relativist version but true middle-of-the-road exemplified by our original political and economic systems and freedoms coupled with individual self-governing, self-discipline and moderation.

107 posted on 12/11/2010 9:57:47 AM PST by Jim W N
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