Re:Switzerland embraces digital currencies and crypto-entrep...
by pg314 on Friday February 23, 2018 @04:05AM
(#16445131)
In a democracy it is the role of the free press, the courts and elections to defend against government overreach.
Do you really believe that the 20,000 to 60,000 estimated [1] militia members in the US is what is defending you agains government overreach? There are more than 1.2 million people in the US army (with a $600 billion budget) and 120,000 federal police officers [2].
Another point to consider: democracies outside the US, that don't have 'well-trained militia of free people', seem to be doing just fine. In a number of metrics that you can consider as a proxy for government overreach the US is actually doing much worse than average: number of people shot by the police, number of people imprisoned, number of (innocent) people executed.
Do you really believe that the 20,000 to 60,000 estimated [1] militia members in the US is what is defending you agains government overreach? There are more than 1.2 million people in the US army (with a $600 billion budget) and 120,000 federal police officers [2].
Another point to consider: democracies outside the US, that don't have 'well-trained militia of free people', seem to be doing just fine. In a number of metrics that you can consider as a proxy for government overreach the US is actually doing much worse than average: number of people shot by the police, number of people imprisoned, number of (innocent) people executed.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Militia_organizations_in_the_U... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_enforcement_in_the_United_...