In message <3B6AE940.8196A7F1@sympatico.ca>, Henry van Eyken writes:
>Eric Kierans, a prominent Canadian, who served as a minister in the Federal
>Government and as a professor of Economics at McGill University,
>wrote in his book, "Remembering" that government is essentially
>democratic and business essentially fascist. Let not fascism
>subjugate democracy. One thing those who wish to gain and remain in
>control is to keep a sharp eye on people and maintain extensive
>records on them.
Living in the US (for a while longer at least), it has become very
difficult to distinguish the "essential" nature of government from
that of business.
I'm not even sure that any real kind of democracy exists any more down
here. It was particularly bizarre in the last election to hear the
GOP stalwarts who tend to complain vociferously about "activist
judges" overruling the will of the people actually *asking* those
judges to make sure that actual votes *not* be given rigorous
scrutiny. No matter what side of that election fiasco you come down
on, the Supreme's decision that expediency and some brand new post-hoc
"fairness" doctrine should be more important than actually trying to
determine what the real will of the people was should frighten anyone
that supposes that "government is essentially democratic"
>A major undertaking of the underground during Nazi occupation was to
>destroy the enemy's records on Dutch citizens so as to make it harder
>for the Nazis to ship off able men to Germany where they forced them
>to work in the factories of the Nazi war effort.
>
>No, I am not equating MS with the Nazis, not at all. But I am wary of
>the similar means employed for potential subjugation, especially by
>corporate powers that are at par with the powers of nations. It is
>well to be on guard.
As well-meaning as Henry surely is, it seems we've come to "Godwin's
Law". Any comparison to the Nazis automatically ends an online
discussion. Too bad.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lee Iverson SRI International
leei@ai.sri.com 333 Ravenswood Ave., Menlo Park CA 94025
http://www.ai.sri.com/~leei/ (650) 859-3307
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Aug 03 2001 - 11:44:59 PDT