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From: mmt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor)
Newsgroups: net.politics.theory
Subject: Re: Slippery slope nightmares
Message-ID: <1642@dciem.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 19-Jul-85 17:27:59 EDT
Article-I.D.: dciem.1642
Posted: Fri Jul 19 17:27:59 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 19-Jul-85 20:06:34 EDT
References: <991@ucbtopaz.CC.Berkeley.ARPA> <245@ubvax.UUCP> <ucbtopaz.1019>
Reply-To: mmt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor)
Organization: D.C.I.E.M., Toronto, Canada
Lines: 22
Summary: 


>Maybe you would like to tackle my as yet unanswered challenge, then. Can
>you describe a system where the government can't pass nearly arbitrary
>laws, given enough time? [Don't jump at the US constitution; it has been
>amended three times to pass laws that would have been "unconstitutional"
>before the amendment.]
>
>        <mike
I haven't seen this challenge before, but it seems a funny one.  Surely
it is impossible, almost by definition, to design a society in which
there is a guarantee against any particular arbitrary law, or against
a group of people being able to impose their arbitrary will *given enough
time*.  There is no difference here between a libertarian society and
an out-and-out dictatorship, except for the time involved.  Even anarchy
won't help, because people can grab power and (horrors) coerce other
people into doing what they want.

-- 

Martin Taylor
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