I've been wanting to do a vid on a similar vein to the "Morality without God" vid done by the thinking atheist except focusing on states. Basically saying "But without a state, who will protect us from..." and then list off various evils in which the state not only failed to protect people from, but actively endorsed themselves.
Examples include...
Slavery
The fugitive slave act which we're all familiar with
How drafts are, by any definition, slavery as they are compulsory labor backed by the threat of violence
Greed
Tons of examples here of course
Corruption
Ditto
Pollution
Love canal, their involvement in BP and lots of other stuff
Negligence
The state's god a nice body count here
Murder
The rather horrific number of people murdered by their own governments
Generally I'd like to stick with things within the 20th and 21st century. Anyone have contributions they'd like to add?
Cutting corners to save money.
Quote from: Lord T Hawkeye on October 23, 2010, 09:30:58 AMSlavery
The fugitive slave act which we're all familiar with
How drafts are, by any definition, slavery as they are compulsory labor backed by the threat of violence
You might want to mention the language of the 13th Amendment and ask how the draft is in any way allowed under it.
QuoteGreed
Tons of examples here of course
See John Stossel's special for how greed can be a good thing. Basically, greed is only bad when someone has the power to initiate force over others. In a free market, the only way to satiate your greed is to make someone's life better by an appropriate amount.
QuotePollution
Love canal, their involvement in BP and lots of other stuff
Also, compare our national forests to those maintained by paper companies. Mary Ruwart's book has a lot of information on this.
You've also probably seen me use Fish Legal as a nice example of how property rights protect people from pollution.
Speaking of pollution, don't forget that governments are the world's biggest polluters.
And that the world's most polluting activity, war, is something governments love to do.
QuoteSee John Stossel's special for how greed can be a good thing. Basically, greed is only bad when someone has the power to initiate force over others. In a free market, the only way to satiate your greed is to make someone's life better by an appropriate amount.
Bleh, meant to say theft. Sorry, it was early in the morning. ><
Quote from: Lord T Hawkeye on October 23, 2010, 07:18:20 PM
Bleh, meant to say theft. Sorry, it was early in the morning. ><
That makes it even easier.
Check out Shane's drug war videos and look for the stuff about eminent domain.
And check out asset forfeiture while you're at it.
Yeah, that was what I meant.
Well, eminent domain works, too, a la the Kelo decision.
True, true.
I meant in the context of your drug war videos though.
If you're going to mention pollution, I'd be sure to go with Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, both the result of corrupt oversight. Murder is going to be a long, long, long list. Everything from state executions, to hiring hitmen and thugs to attack workers during general strikes, to prosecuting unjustified wars, to committing atrocities in the name of the state. I could go on and on.
Quote from: AHPMB on October 24, 2010, 05:39:41 PM
If you're going to mention pollution, I'd be sure to go with Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, both the result of corrupt oversight.
Then they just say "Not enough regulation".
And to everything else they respond "Rich people bribed them."
QuoteThen they just say "Not enough regulation".
If they argued that Chernobyl as part of a communist state apparatus did not have "enough regulation" then at that point, you're only response is to chuckle and walk away. Like the religious, they're beyond rational argument.
But they have nice cloysone pins.