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Government’s Unique Asset


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#1 thefirstimmortal

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Posted 16 October 2002 - 11:25 PM


What separates government from the rest of society isn’t its size, its disregard for profit, its foresight, or its scope.
The distinctive feature of government is coercion, the use of force and the threat of force to win obedience. This is how government differs from every other agency in society. The others persuade; government compels.

When someone demands that government help flood victims, he is saying he wants to force people to pay for flood relief. Otherwise, he’d be happy to have the Red Cross and its supporters handle everything.

When someone wants government to limit the price of a product, he is asking to use force to prevent people from paying more for something they want. Otherwise, he would simply urge people not to patronize those he thinks are charging too much.

When Congress passes a bill mandating “family leave,” it forces every employer to provide time off for family problems, even if its employees want the employer to use payroll money for some other benefit. Otherwise, employers and employees would be free to decide what works best in each situation.

Nothing involving government is voluntary, as it would be when a private company does something. One way or another, there is compulsion in every government activity:

The government forces someone to pay for something;
The government forces someone to do something; or
The government forcibly prevents someone from doing something.

There is no other reason to involve government.
And by “force” I mean the real thing,the kind that hurts people.

#2 thefirstimmortal

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Posted 16 October 2002 - 11:27 PM

In some government agencies, such as the police and prisons, the role of coercion is obvious. But it is at work in every government program, although a program’s supporters rarely acknowledge it.

If this seems like too sweeping a statement, it may be that you’ve never tried to resist a government program. If you did, you’d have learned very quickly that the program is enforced by a gun. The easiest way to spot the gun is to imagine what would happen if you decided to ignore the government’s “request.”

Suppose, for example, that you’re a barber. One day the state Board of Tonsorial Cutters of Hair (BOTCH) issues a regulation to stop “cut-throat competition" decreeing that no barber can charge less than $8 for a haircut. (Many states do have laws prohibiting barbers from charging less than a stated minimum price.)

So long as you charge at least $8, you won’t even notice the regulation. But suppose your price is only $6. Perhaps you’re in a low-income neighborhood where people can’t afford $8 haircuts, or maybe your shop is new and you want to attract customers, or perhaps business is slow and you need to stimulate sales. For whatever reason, suppose you offer haircuts for $6. You may be able to get away with this for a month or two. But eventually the folks at BOTCH will send you a letter, ordering you to desist.

If you comply by boosting your price to $8, you’ll hear nothing more. But if you keep cutting hair for $6, eventually some men in suits will come to your shop and warn you to stop undercharging.

If you continue to ignore the law, you’ll receive a subpoena, telling you to appear in court. if you don’t show up, or if you ignore the court’s order to raise your price, your barber’s license will be revoked.

If you defy the court by continuing to cut hair, another group of men will come to your shop. These fellows may not be in suits, and they probably will have guns. They will be there to close your business.

If you resist, their job will be to "take you into custody" which is a euphemism for seizing you, handcuffing you, and taking you
to jail. At this point, it will be obvious that the regulation’s purpose is to force barbers to charge at least $8, not by persuasion, but with a gun.
Every government program, no matter how benign it may appear, is the same. Coercion is the reason (and the only reason) it
is a government program.

#3 thefirstimmortal

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Posted 16 October 2002 - 11:30 PM

The IRS likes to say that our tax system is based on voluntary compliance. And that’s true: so long as you comply, the system is voluntary. But the moment you choose not to comply, you’ll find yourself in a different system one where you’ll be forced to pay.

People seek the help of business groups, charity organizations, and service clubs to urge others to support some cause. People turn to government to force others to support their cause.

Now, you may believe that government should set prices for haircuts and other things or that it should force people to do what’s good for them or what’s good for society. But those are other issues. Before we can address them, we first need to recognize the simple truth that every government program and regulation is backed by the same kind of force that is so useful for robbing money from 7-Eleven stores. Only then will we understand why government programs turn out as they do and how government has come to where it is today.

Think through any government activity. Eventually, you’ll find the coercion that keeps it from being anything but a government program.

So what is government? Very simply, it is an agency of coercion. Of course, there are other agencies of coercion, such as the
Mafia. So to be more precise, government is the agency of coercion that has flags in front of its offices.

Or, to put it another way, government is society’s dominant producer of coercion. The Mafia and independent bandits are merely fringe competitors, seeking to take advantage of the niches and nooks neglected by the government.

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#4 thefirstimmortal

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Posted 16 October 2002 - 11:36 PM

Being able to force people to do what you want can be an attractive prospect, especially if you don’t have to admit, even to yourself, how you’re getting what you want.

If you want to feed the homeless, you don’t have to persuade hundreds of people to donate money. The government can
force millions of people to contribute.

If your business is losing customers, you don’t have to try harder to match your competition. The government can establish licensing laws or impose tariffs that get the competition out of your hair.

If you don’t want people reading pornography or other “bad” literature, you don’t have to persuade them to find something better. Just get the government to put the smut-peddlers out of business.

Government, with its power to coerce, seems to be a magic wand that can make your dreams come true. It can seem able to summon up anything you want, do away with anything you don’t like, and make everyone happy, especially you.
Because of government’s power, controlling it is the grand prize, the brass ring, the pot of gold, the genie of the lamp. It beckons as the shortcut to riches, to the perfect world you imagine, to imposing your personal tastes on everyone. With government at your disposal, it appears that you can bypass the tedious process of earning a living, spreading the gospel, or persuading others that you’re right.

No wonder that most TV news revolves around government. No wonder nearly everyone wants to influence government. Whoever controls it controls us all.

#5 Mind

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Posted 16 October 2002 - 11:55 PM

I couldn't agree with you more O'Rights.

Unfortunately, the government will probably eventually get involved in the quest for immortality...which means there are going to be stipulations (implemented by force, because there is no other way the government operates). I can see it now...the government will probably FORCE people to buy a "life license" or some other type of silliness that will allow an individual to live another year. There might be a department of immortality regulating the ways that people achieve radical life extension.

#6 thefirstimmortal

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Posted 17 October 2002 - 02:18 AM

Unfortunately, the government will probably eventually get involved in the quest for immortality...



O'Rights, It already has :(

#7 thefirstimmortal

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Posted 17 October 2002 - 02:37 AM

Mind; Unfortunately, the government will probably eventually get involved in the quest for immortality...which means there are going to be stipulations (implemented by force, because there is no other way the government operates). I can see it now...the government will probably FORCE people to buy a "life license" or some other type of silliness that will allow an individual to live another year. There might be a department of immortality regulating the ways that people achieve radical life extension.


O'Rights The concept of life extension lies beyond the boundaries of therapeutic categories in the limited minds of government bureaucrats who are satisfied with their limited lifespans. This would not be worrisome were it not for the fact that it can lead to murderous constriction of the lifespan ambitions of those with more knowledge & imagination than the bureaucrats.

The US Federal Drug Administration (FDA) refused to include life-extension within its treatment categories -- refusing to acknowledge that aging is a disease. For the FDA, everything that is not acknowledged is prohibited. In imposing its narrow-minded rules upon the lives of others, the FDA has waged a long & vicious battle against the Life Extensionist. They will doule their efforts for Immortalist.

Live Long and Well
The First Immortal

#8 thefirstimmortal

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Posted 17 October 2002 - 02:39 AM

The Life Extension Foundation was founded by Saul Kent, a science journalist with an intense desire to find means of slowing
aging -- and ultimately of ending death. LEF studied scientific literature for evidence of life-extending properties of vitamins and
other nutrients. The results of these researches were published in a magazine (currently LIFE EXTENSION) and made available
as products through mail-order sales. Saul Kent has remained President, but Vice-President William Faloon has effectively acted
as CEO after Saul began founding other new companies devoted to life-extension.

Shortly before opening-time on the morning of February 26, 1987 twenty-five armed Federal Drug Administration (FDA) agents &
US marshalls smashed thorough the glass doors of the Life Extension Foundation store, simultaneously raiding the nearby
warehouse in Florida. With drawn guns, the agents lined LEF employees against the wall while seizing products, literature,
documents, computers and personal effects -- more than 80% of which were not within the authority of the search warrant.

Having lost most of their product inventory, LEF principals Saul Kent & Bill Faloon were facing 5-to-80 years in prison. All the
attorneys they consulted recommended a guilty plea as the only possible means of reducing prison time. Instead, Kent & Faloon
fought back both in the courts and through political action. A Political Coordinator's Office was established at LEF. LEF members
(numbering less than 5,000) cooperated with letters, FAXes and phone calls to political leaders.

On January 9, 1991 the FDA raided the LEF Arizona Shipping Office with the complicity of the Arizona Board of Pharmacy. A
permanent embargo was placed against all future shipments of 42 LEF products, including Life Extension Mix and
Coenzyme-Q10. Fifteen days after the embargo, LEF lawyers handed a 300-page lawsuit to the Attorney General of Arizona --
who promptly ordered the Pharmacy Board to lift the embargo. The Pharmacy Board Director agreed that his agents would take
no future actions on behalf of the FDA without investigating matters themselves first.

The FDA then threatened that Kent & Faloon would become the target of criminal indictments that would "destroy their lives
forever" and were told to plead guilty of crimes against the state. Kent & Faloon responded with a lawsuit against the FDA in a
Florida District Court seeking an injunction against discriminating prosecution.

On November 7, 1991 Kent & Faloon were arrested and thrown into an 8-by-8 Fort Lauderdale jail cubicle containing several men
charged with drug-related crimes. Several hours later they were taken handcuffed before a magistrate who informed them that
they were charged with 28 criminal counts, including conspiracy to sell unapproved drugs. After more hours in jail, they were
released on $825,000 bail each.

Kent & Faloon retaliated by filing motions attacking the legal & constitutional foundation of the indictment. They charged that the
FDA had illegally obtained the search warrant and had illegally seized many items not on the warrant. They also filed a motion
charging that they were being selectively prosecuted by the FDA, because AIDS Buyer's Clubs similarly informed their members
of the FDA policy of allowing importation of drugs for personal use.

Despite continued threats of more FDA indictments that could put Kent & Faloon in jail for the rest of their lives, LEF became the
first company to offer pharmaceutical-grade Melatonin in the United States in 1992.

In 1995 the FDA began exerting strong pressure to bring its lengthy legal fight against the Life Extension Foundation to trial. The
FDA told Kent & Faloon that in exchange for a guilty plea they would not have to go to prison and could continue doing business
on a more limited basis. The FDA wanted to censor the contents of LIFE EXTENSION magazine and probably intended to
"regulate" LEF by limiting the products they could sell. Instead of pleading guilty, Kent & Faloon filed a new battery of legal
motions, escalated their political attacks on the FDA and began extensive preparations for their trial.

In November 1995, the FDA dropped all charges except the charge of "obstruction of justice" against Saul Kent. In February,
1996 even this charge was dropped. It was the first time in the history of the FDA that the agency had given-up on a criminal
indictment against a political opponent.




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