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1.11
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Ecks' final guest on the program was the Reverend Caiaphas Zee, a
prominent Southern Baptist minister who had formed a mega church
empire after a failed presidential bid, and now seemed content to
advise the politicians he could not supplant.  Standing in his pulpit,
clad in his black cassock and starched white collar, with a simple
wooden cross hanging from a cord around his neck, he seemed the very
personification of a prophet of God.

Zee: "Captain, you are a liar and a thief."

Mercuriou: "I've said everything I intend to say on that issue."

Zee: "Then let me say more!  We have laws not because they are made by
man, but because they are commanded by God!  We are told 'thou shall
not steal'!"

Mercuriou: "If that's all you want to debate..."

Mercuriou reached again for the switch, but Zee thundered on.

Zee: "Throw the switch, Captain, go ahead!  That's all I want to
debate!  'Thou Shall Not Steal'!  'Thou Shall Not Steal'!"

Mercuriou paused, then threw the switch.  Nothing happened.  He grinned.

Mercuriou: "OK, Reverend, so maybe I won't switch you off just yet."

Zee: "Thou Shall Not Steal, Captain, _Thou_Shall_Not_Steal_!  God
_commands_ capitalism, because the civil magistrate is not to go
beyond his authority to enforce God's laws!"

Mercuriou: "God's laws or man's laws?"

Zee: "God's laws, Captain, and the United States has adhered to them!
It's not perfect, mind you, we still have a million unborn babies
slaughtered every year, music and movies that hype drugs and
drunkenness, and all manner of sexual debauchery imaginable!"

Mercuriou: "Yet capitalism is moral... _why_?"

Zee: "Because God does not allow the government to steal!  We tithe to
the church to support it, including its charities, and the government
is to tax a small portion more, primarily for law enforcement.  And
many people give quite a bit more than ten percent to the church, let
me assure you.  We have some _very_ generous members in our
congregation."

Mercuriou: "You've got this nightmare of capitalism that's another
slavery all over again..."

Zee: "Capitalism is not another slavery!  We don't bind men in chains
to force them to work!"

Mercuriou: "It is another slavery, Reverend!  It's another depraved
philosophy that has become entrenched in our society; many people do
not choose to work; they are forced to.  The chains are poverty and
homelessness, hopelessness and despair!  Your majority today, just
like in the 1800s, can see nothing wrong with it, and democracy,
again, is completely incapable of making the basic moral value
judgements necessary to govern a society!"

Zee: "We did and do make those value judgements, captain!  Slavery was
against God's will!  Those who rejected freedom fought against it, but
freedom ultimately prevailed!"

Mercuriou: "Freedom ultimately prevailed!  Where were the checks and
balances?  Where was the Bill of Rights?  Where were the noble
statesmen, deliberating together in a free and cooperative government
to advance the great banner of liberty?  It took the bloodiest war in
U.S. history to end slavery, so what can democracy really be worth?
And if it takes the same thing to end capitalism?  How many more
'successes' like the Civil War can this country afford?"

Zee: "The Civil War was a success, captain, however bloody it may have
been; sometimes you have to fight for freedom!  The abolitionists
tried for many years to work within that system; but it was too badly
flawed.  Finally, one of the greatest Presidents this country ever
produced took a stand for liberty and freed the slaves!"

Mercuriou: "Reverend, if we had gone to war with Russia over Cuban
missiles, or the Suez Canal, or any other stupid thing, there'd be
people to this day touring the radioactive ruins of Washington, and
New York, and Los Angeles saying it was all worth it; communism had to
be stopped; freedom had to prevail.  People love war; your own Bible
has enough of it.  People are greedy, too.  Find those saints of yours
and put _them_ in charge of the government, we know where the majority
will lead us!"

Zee: "What's your solution, overthrow any government whose laws you
don't like?"

Mercuriou: "You look somberly at the laws, and look somberly at the
men who make the laws, and come to a conclusion that the men are
self-serving materialists consumed with their economic and political
theories of capitalism and democracy, and that their laws are
convoluted, misguided, and unjust."

Zee: "Many people would agree with those criticisms, captain; perhaps
you should have become a politician instead of a thief!  Nobody will
listen to you now!"

Ecks interrupted before Mercuriou could fire back.

Ecks: "Well, our time is growing short, captain, and it looks like our
prison system is going to remain a little short, too.  I don't think
it's worth the expense to apprehend you right now."

Mercuriou now broke out into a long, genuine laugh.  Ecks paused for a
moment, then kept talking.

Ecks: "I suppose there's no harm in leaving you be.  You'll eventually
have to come back down.  In the meantime, when you make it Mars, if
you make it to Mars, do us a favor.  Have the dignity to plant an
American flag there.  It's the least you can do for the country that
footed the bill."
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clad in his black cassock and starched white collar, he seemed the
very personification of a prophet of God.
d23 1
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debate!  'Thou Shall Not Steal'!"
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Mercuriou paused, then threw the switch.  Nothing.  He grinned.
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Zee: "Thou Shall Not Steal, Captain, _Thou_Shall_Not_Steal_!  There's
nothing wrong with capitalism!  Christianity _commands_ capitalism,
because the civil magistrate is not to go beyond his authority to
enforce God's laws!"
d35 4
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Zee: "God's laws, Captain, and the United States has done a fairly
good job of adhering to them!  It's not perfect, mind you, we still
have a million unborn babies slaughtered every year, music and movies
that hype drugs and drunkenness, and all manner of sexual debauchery
imaginable!"
d55 7
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Mercuriou: "It is another slavery, Reverend.  It's another depraved
philosophy that has become entrenched in our society; your majority
today, just like the majority in the 1800s, can see nothing wrong with
it, and democracy, once again, appears completely incapable of making
the basic moral value judgements necessary to govern a society!"
d67 6
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Mercuriou: "Freedom ultimately prevailed!  Reverend, the Civil War
shook this country to its core, and the most serious questions have
never really been answered.  Where were all the checks and balances?
Where was the Bill of Rights?  Where were the noble statesmen,
deliberating together in a free and cooperative government to advance
the great banner of liberty?  If it took the bloodiest war in
U.S. history to end slavery, how much can democracy really be worth?
And what if it takes the same thing to end capitalism?  How many more
d90 2
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Zee: "What's your solution, captain, overthrow any government whose
laws you don't like?"
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convoluted, misguided, and unjust.  Go into any law library and ask to
see the law.  Just the Code of Federal Regulations alone takes up
entire shelfs!  They say 'ignorance of the law is no excuse'; I think
it's a great excuse -- who understands all these laws?  How many of
them are to somehow 'regulate' people's greed -- this capitalist idea
that we use the law to build some kind of a 'playing field' for their
sick game!  One guy cuts a deal to testify against his friends and
gets four months; another guy refuses to snitch and it's ten years!
You call that justice?"
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you should have given us more of a chance and become a politician
instead of a thief!  Nobody will listen to you now!"
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% ZEE IS GOING TO THE BIBLE.  MERCURIOU DOESN'T CUT HIM OFF, BUT COMES
% BACK TO HIS OWN CRIMINAL JUSTIFICATION.

d28 4
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Zee: "Thou Shall Not Steal, Captain, _Thou_Shall_Not_Steal_!"

Zee: "There's nothing immoral about capitalism, Captain.  In fact,
Christianity _commands_ capitalism, because the civil magistrate is
not to go beyond his authority to enforce God's laws."
d35 5
a39 4
Zee: "God's laws, Captain, and the United States has done a fairly good
job over the years of adhering to them.  It's not perfect, mind you,
we still have a million unborn babies slaughtered every year, and all
manner of sexual debauchery imaginable."
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Zee: "Because God does not allow the government to take additional
money to be re-distributed in some way!  We are to tithe ten percent
to the church to support its programs, including charities, and the
government is to tax a small portion more, primarily for law
enforcement.  And many people give quite a bit more than ten percent
to the church, let me assure you.  We have some _very_ generous
members in our congregation."
d63 2
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against God's commandment to love one another!  Those who rejected
freedom fought against it, but freedom ultimately prevailed!"
d72 3
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U.S. history to end slavery, how much can this system of government
really be worth?  And what if it takes the same thing to end
capitalism?  How many more 'successes' like the Civil War can this
country afford?"
d98 1
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convoluted, misguided, and unjust."

Zee: "Convoluted, misguided, and unjust?"

Mercuriou: "Well, look at them.  Go into any law library and ask to
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entire shelfs!  It's tens of thousands of pages of inscrutable
legalize.  And people say that 'ignorance of the law is no excuse'; I
personally think it's a great excuse - who understands all these laws?
That's convulted.  As for misguided, well, look at how much of it is
to somehow 'regulate' people's greed - this capitalist idea that we
use the law to build some kind of a 'playing field'.  And unjust!
You've got to be kidding me!  One guy cuts a deal to testify against
his friends and gets four months; another guy refuses to snitch and
it's a ten year sentence!  You call that justice?"
d109 2
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you should have given our political system more of a chance and become
a politician instead of a thief!"
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advise the politicians he could not supplant.
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Zee: "Then let me say more!  Captain, we have laws not just because
they are made by man, but because they are commanded by God!  We are
told 'thou shall not steal'!"
d24 2
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Zee: "Throw the switch, Captain, go ahead!  That's all I want to debate!"
d30 2
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Mercuriou: "OK, Reverend, so maybe I won't turn you off just yet."
d61 3
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Zee: "We did and do make those value judgements, captain!  Those who
rejected freedom fought for slavery, but freedom ultimately
prevailed!"
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shook this country to its core.  Oh, the United States survived, but
the most serious questions raised by slavery have never really been
answered.  Where were all the checks and balances?  Where was the Bill
of Rights?  Where were the noble statesmen, deliberating together in a
free and cooperative government to advance the great banner of
liberty?  If it took the bloodiest war in U.S. history to end slavery,
how much can this system of government really be worth?  And what if
it takes the same thing to end capitalism?  How many more 'successes'
like the Civil War can this country afford?"

Zee: "The Civil War was a success, captain; sometimes you have to
fight for freedom!  The abolitionists tried for many years to work
within that system; but it was too badly flawed.  Finally, one of the
greatest Presidents this country ever produced took a stand for
liberty and freed the slaves!"
d86 33
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be stopped.  People love war, sir, your own Bible has enough of it.
People are greedy, too.  Find those saints of yours and put _them_ in
charge of the government, we know where the majority will lead us!"
d127 5
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Ecks: "I suppose there's no harm in leaving you be for now.  You'll
eventually have to come back down.  In the meantime, when you make it
Mars, if you make it to Mars, do us a favor.  Have the dignity to
plant an American flag there.  It's the least you can do for the
country that footed the bill."
@


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Ecks: Ecks' final guest on the program was "my good friend, the
Reverend Caiaphas Zee."
d10 1
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Zee: "Thank you, Rich.  Captain, you are a liar and a thief."
d18 1
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Mercuriou: "If that's all you want to debate..." [reaching for the switch]
d20 3
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Zee: "Throw the switch, Captain, go ahead.  That's all I want to debate."
d47 1
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members in our congregations."
d61 3
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Zee: "We did make those value judgements, captain!  Those who rejected
freedom fought against it, but freedom ultimately prevailed!"
@


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ZEE IS GOING TO THE BIBLE.  MERCURIOU DOESN'T CUT HIM OFF, BUT COMES
BACK TO HIS OWN CRIMINAL JUSTIFICATION.
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Perhaps because of his attitude, perhaps because of his altitude,
perhaps because of his impunity, completely beyond the reach of any
terrestrial authority, or perhaps simply because of what he said and
how he said it, Mercuriou seemed to incite the ire of nearly every
American political leader, regardless of party affiliation or personal
background.  Tonight, he faced off against Jeffrey Zee, a state
governor widely expected to run for president in the upcoming national
election.
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Ecks: My good friend, the Reverend Caiaphas Zee.
d10 1
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Zee: Thank you, Rich.  Captain, you are a liar and a thief.
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Mercuriou: I've said everything I intend to say on that issue.
d16 1
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Zee: Then let me say more... [QUOTES THE BIBLE]
d18 1
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Mercuriou: If that's all you want to debate... [reaching for the switch]

Zee: Throw the switch, Captain, go ahead.  That's all I want to debate.
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Mercuriou: OK, Reverend, so maybe I won't turn it off just yet.
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Zee: There's nothing immoral about capitalism, Captain.  In fact,
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not to go beyond his authority to enforce God's laws.
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Mercuriou: God's laws or man's laws?
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Zee: God's laws, Captain, and the United States has done a fairly good
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manner of sexual debauchery imaginable.
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Mercuriou: Yet capitalism is moral... _why_?
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Zee: Because God does not allow the government to take additional
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members in our congregation.
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Mercuriou: The majority don't want good leaders.  No, I take that
back.  They want good leaders, but they can't tell the difference -
they're incompetent.  So they've picked about the most selfish
bastards you'd ever want to meet, with this nightmare capitalist
system based on the most vicious traits of mankind to be jammed down
everyone's throats.  And this time, nobody can say it isn't really a
democracy, that one man took over the government, that the dissidents
were 'disappeared', that we don't have freedom of speech or freedom of
the press.  Nobody can claim that this isn't really what the majority
of people want.


"The people chose their own leaders!" Mercuriou sneered.  "Which
people, Governor, surely not all the people!"

Zee: Yes, _the_people_!

Mercuriou: Well what about the two million people you've got locked up
in your jail cells?  Do they choose their own leaders?

Zee: We have a participatory democracy, Captain!  The people can
petition their government to change the laws, and if enough people
support them, the laws _will_ change!

Mercuriou: But that's not what you said!  You didn't say the people
could _participate_ in their government!  You said the people could
_choose_their_own_leaders_, but in fact only the majority get to
_choose_their_own_leaders_; everyone else participates, and loses!
Hell, I'll take 'participatory government' any day!  You participate,
and I'll make all the decisions!  What do you say?

Zee: Well, that would be a dictatorship, Captain.

Mercuriou: What's a dictatorship?  Anything that isn't a democracy?
The majority rules; everybody else does what they're told.  And then
you talk about 'freedom'!  Governor, turn on the T.V!  Don't you see
the police slamming people to the ground, half of whom have done
nothing more than fire up a joint, gang-tackling them, and dragging
them off in handcuffs!  That's your 'freedom'!

Zee: Criminals!  Yet even _they_ are entitled to freedom!  We provide
them with lawyers, ensure them fair trials...

Mercuriou: Fair trials!  Senator, _I'm_one_of_those_criminals_!
Because I smoke marijuana!  Because I copy books and software from 'C'
drive to 'D' drive!  Because I don't concede to this blasted democracy
that it can control every aspect of my life, and all your
_fair_trials_ are is a convoluted route to a jail cell!  And then you
sit there are talk about 'freedom'!  What freedom?  The freedom to
invade people's homes with guns because there's a hundred million of
you and only ten million of us?

Zee: Captain, the entire operation of our government is based on
persuasion.  That's why every four years men contest to become
President, and the way they do that is through giving speechs, running
advertisements, talking to voters, and the whole point is to persuade,
captain, persuade, not force, people to vote for them.

Mercuriou:
"_Humanity_has_abandoned_greed_and_force_and_this_great_event_goes_by_the_name_of_democracy!_
Well, if your government is so based on persuation, then why do you
have the highest incarceration rate on the planet?  Why are you
screaming for war on your own people and 'zero tolerance' for your own
children?  The only people your politicians persuade is the majority.
Everyone else is ruled through threat and fear.  The majority act real
nice and polite to each other, then as soon they find out that you're
a druggie, or a copyright violator, or just don't want to work for
their bastard leaders, they scream for blood and elect all these men
who talk about cracking down and getting tough, and how wonderful a
world it is where anybody can start a business and ruthlessly try to
compete in this brutual capitalist system.  The majority are perfectly
willing to resort to force; they do it _every_single_day_."


Mercuriou: Yes, and that's really the problem - populist government -
this stupid idea that you can put the masses of people in charge of
society.  It was talked about by philophers in the eigthteenth
century, brought to power in Europe and the Americas by a string of
revolutions in the nineteenth, and brought to fuition in the twentieth
century.  What it produced was fascism, communism, and capitalism -
three of the most depraved societies that have every been seen on the
face of this planet.  Fascism, based on brutal, viscious, racial
competition; communism, based on brutal, viscious, class competition;
and capitalism, based on brutal, viscious individual competition.  And
they have one other thing in common - millions upon millions upon
millions of people went chasing off after every one of them!


Mercuriou: You want to understand communism, read the last page of the
Communist Manifesto - let the world tremble in fear of a communist
revolution.  _That_'s communism - stick AK-47s in the hands of the
peasants and let the world tremble in fear!  That's what _millions_ of
people wanted!  Because communism was one of the biggest populist
movements of the twentieth century!  Practically every country in
existance had some kind of communist insurgancy!  They took over half
this planet!  Millions upon millions of people _believed_ in
communism!  To claim that the communists were some tiny bunch of
dictators flies in the face of history!  Take Vietnam - why were all
those 15-year-olds hauling AK-47s around the Mekong Delta if the
communists were just some tiny cliche holed up in the Kremlin?!  Take
China - Mao Tse Sung, the Long March, the defeat of Chang Kai Chech,
heck, look at Russia itself!  Then how did they win their Civil War in
Russia?  The Whites had all the old czarist military officers, they
had foreign aid from the United States and Great Britian, the Reds
were isolated and on their own, yet still they managed to win that
war!  How did they did that if nobody supported them?  If communism
wasn't populist, then why did forty percent of the Russian electorate
vote for Zyuganov in 1996?  Forty percent!

Zee: Not a majority!  Not a majority!

Mercuriou: Oh, get off re-re-repeat!  What's so sacrosanct about that
magic 51 percent?

Zee: Communism was a brutual, murderous dictatorship.  And I want to
be very clear on that word - dictatorship.  There was nothing populist
about it in the least.

  There are _millions_ of Russians who _to_this_day_
support communism!  And let's face it, the problem with communism
wasn't their economic system, it wasn't the structure of their
elections, it wasn't their lack of constituional guarantees.  The
problem with communism was that their leaders had some nightmare
system to be jammed down everyone's throats, and
_millions_of_people_supported_them_!

Mercuriou: The problem isn't Bill Gates.  The problem is John Doe.
Walk into one of these stores anywhere in the Western world without a
credit card or a twenty dollar bill in hand.  Ask for a plate of food.
See what you walk out with.  The fact is that the majority of people
are crude, selfish, and violent.  That's why communism came to power
in these backwards countries - if the people have nothing, tell them
to expropriate the expropriators at gunpoint - it sounds great!  Now
in the more developed nations, the majority have a lot more material
possessions, expropriating the expropriators doesn't sound nearly as
good, better to make sure that those who have can keep what they've
got.  Most people are selfish - both capitalism and communism play to
that, just on different sides of the coin. [CA]

Mercuriou: "It was the same thing with fascism, after the Germans
basically elected the Nazis in 1932, with a plurality of over thirteen
million votes!  They got enough votes to make Hermann Goering
president of the Reischtag, enough votes to defeat Von Papen's
government on a vote of no-confidence, enough votes to create a
situtation where Adolf Hitler was basically the only viable choice for
German chancellor.  Generally speaking, that means they won the
election!  You hear these apologists for democracy try to blame
Hindenburg for what happened, try to say the German industrialists
pushed him to appoint Hitler, or that his son was whispering in his
ear, what about the thirteen and a half million people who voted Nazi
in '32?!  Did they have anything to do with Hinderburg's decision?
Thirteen and a half million!  There isn't a city on this planet with
thirteen and a half million people in it!  And this in a nation of
only about eighty million total!  Yes, Hitler proceeded to build a
dictatorship, but a dictatorship with the support of millions upon
millions of people!  And don't try to say that the Germans didn't knew
what they were getting.  Read the first chapter, the first page, of
_Mein_Kampf_!  The part where Hitler talks about 'the moral right of
armed conquest'!  That book was a best-seller in Germany!  That's what
those people voted for - 'the moral right of armed conquest'!  People
supported the Nazis for basically the same reason people supported the
communists and the same reason people today support the capitalists -
because they were brutal as hell, and that's what works in the 'real
world' and that's all these millions and millions of people 'know'!
That's populist government!  That's democracy!"

Mercuriou: "What's democracy?  Another pile of books and theories that
sounds good on paper, and in practice has produced a depraved,
nightmare society.  Everybody runs around yelling about how 'the
people' support it!  Of course they support it - they're the majority!
Democracy isn't about putting 'the people' in control, it's about
putting the majority in control!  Why should one group of people rule
everyone else's lives just because there's more of them than anybody
else?  Why shouldn't the factory workers run society - they're the
ones who have to break their backs for industrialization, right?  Why
shouldn't we generically engineer some 'super race' of men, and put
them in control, huh?  I mean, they'd be stronger, smarter, healthier,
superior to us in every way, so shouldn't they be the ones to rule?
Isn't that logical?  Isn't that rational?  Let's face it - communism
and fascism make at least as much sense as democracy does - they're
all equally absurd!"


Mercuriou: The majority care about three things: getting rich, getting
tough, and getting laid.



Mercuriou: I call it the Paradox of Freedom: how do you give freedom
to both the Nazis and the Jews?  You can't, because if you give
freedom to the Nazis, they will murder the Jews!  The issue isn't how
much freedom this 'majority' has got.  It's what they've chosen to do
with it!  They've chosen to build a society based on some of the most
vicious traits of mankind; they've chosen the most selfish bastards as
their leaders, build some nightmare society based on greed, declare
war against millions of their own people because they won't just do
what their told when the great free democracy barks out its orders,
and then jam it down their throats at gunpoint!

Zee: We have laws!  What's the alternative?  To let every murderer and
rapist walk free, preying on their victims at will?  You'll call that
freedom, I suppose!

Mercuriou: So why do you have the largest incarceration rate on this
planet?  Does the U.S. have so many more murderers and rapists than
everyone else, senator?

Zee: Somebody has to make the laws, captain, and we choose to let THE
PEOPLE make them!  THE PEOPLE decide what crimes will be punished and
by what means!

Mercuriou: The People?  Again, you mean THE MAJORITY!  And we see just
what kinds of laws and what kind of society they want.  They want to
build all these super-weapons, arm themselves to the teeth, declare
war against their own people, send armed men busting into their homes,
make people so terrified of what will be done to them that they'll be
too afraid not to just fall in line and do what they're told when the
great majority barks out its orders!

Zee: So you're against democracy!!

Mercuriou: You're damned right I am!!

Zee: Well I'm not surprised.  At least you don't seem as dangerous as
Stalin or Hitler.  To reject majority rule is to reject the most
basic, the most foundational principle of modern government!

Mercuriou: A principle based on what?  Another election!?

Zee: Look, I've got a web update for you, captain.  The people of this
planet have decided on democracy, and we're not going back.

Mercuriou: 'The people of this planet'; you guys don't even fool
around with 'the people of this nation' anymore, you're onto global
democracy!

Zee: Yes, the people of this planet!  You should speak to some of the
people who have lived under communism!  You should let them tell you
what it's like to live under a dictatorship!  Let me explain the
difference, captain, since it seems to have escaped you.  Democracy
isn't perfect; we've had a lot of problems in the past and we'll face
more in the future.  Yet our government is _responsive_ to its people;
we have the ability to change!

Mercuriou: Oh, the communists talked about change too, senator.  The
dictatorship of the proletariat was just going to wither away and
leave us with some utopian socialist future.  I'll bet it came as one
hell of a shock to a whole lot of people in Russia when it finally
dawned on them that communism was going to remembered for
_exactly_what_it_was_ and not some fantasy future that never happened!
And now I've got a 'web update' for you - you can talk change all you
want; democracy is going to be remembered for
_exactly_what_we_live_in_today_... no fantasy futures allowed!

Zee: I'm not worried about that comparison, captain, not in the least!

Mercuriou: Well, you should be!  You've got this nightmare of
capitalism that's another slavery all over again...

Zee: Look here, capitalism has its flaws, but it is most certainly not
another slavery!  We don't bind men in chains to force them to work!

Mercuriou: It is another slavery, governor, because it's another one
of these depraved philosophies that has become entrenched in our
society; your majority today, just like the majority in the 1800s, can
see nothing wrong with it, and democracy, once again, appears
completely incapable of making the basic moral value judgements
necessary to govern a society!

Zee: We did make those value judgements, captain!  Those who rejected
freedom fought against it, but freedom ultimately prevailed!

Mercuriou: "Freedom ultimately prevailed!  Senator, the Civil War shook
this country to its core.  Oh, the United States survived, but the
most serious questions raised by slavery have never really been
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Zee: The Civil War was a success, captain; sometimes you have to fight
for your freedom.  The abolitionists tried for many years to work
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greatest Presidents this country has ever produced took a stand for
liberty and freed the slaves.



=========
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Ecks: Well, captain, our prison system is going to remain a little
short.  I don't think it's worth the expense to apprehend you right
now.
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Ecks: I suppose there's no harm in leaving you be for now.  You'll
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Mars, if you make it to Mars, do me a favor.  Have the dignity to
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country that footed the bill.
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Humanity_has_abandoned_greed_and_force_and_this_great_event_goes_by
the_name_of_democracy! Well, if your government is so based on
persuation, then why do you have the highest incarceration rate on the
planet?  Why are you screaming for war on your own people and 'zero
tolerance' for your own children?  The only people your politicians
persuade is the majority.  Everyone else is ruled through threat and
fear.  The majority act real nice and polite to each other, then as
soon they find out that you're a druggie, or a copyright violator, or
just don't want to work for their bastard leaders, they scream for
blood and elect all these men who talk about cracking down and getting
tough, and how wonderful a world it is where anybody can start a
business and ruthlessly try to compete in this brutual capitalist
system.  The majority are perfectly willing to resort to force; they
do it _every_single_day_.
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Mercuriou: It was the same thing with fascism, after the Germans
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Mercuriou: What's democracy?  Another pile of books and theories that
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Mercuriou: Freedom ultimately prevailed!  Senator, the Civil War shook
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Mercuriou: Oh, get off repeat!  What is so sacrosanct about that magic
51 percent?
@
