Re:Coinbase and the IRS
by JumpCrisscross on Sunday January 15, 2017 @01:58PM
(#13405660)
> Are you saying that because you agree?
No. I just find discussing ideas more meaningful than arguing definitions.
> "legitimate" government - whatever that means
Don't handwaive this away. The boot-up process, which builds founding myths and their related constructs, is integral as much as with any other venture.
Ignore it and you will be advocating for the unrealistic (e.g. "everyone signs a contract at 18 or gets banished") or the abominable (e.g. "we will have an efficient, culturally homogenous society once we kill the Jews").
Are you saying that because you agree? Because that was the only point I was making..
We can all agree that gangs, mafias and cartels have collective power and use the threat of force to govern territories. The distinction we're making is whether these cartels constitute a "legitimate" government - whatever that means.
I think legitimacy should be measured by consent (crazy idea I know), and that not leaving a territory doesn't constitute consent. Mexican families living in cartel-land do not give consent because they're too poor to leave. Because a said cartel provides "protection" from other cartels does not mean a service was provided.
I'm just asking people reason about government in principle, rather than in terms of what they think a government should be.