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Entry: The Wrongs of "Rights" Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/the_wrongs_of_rights#7541 Post contents: Adriana, I don't know much about the case you're referring to. I would say that I don't object to Mormon polygamy per se (or Islamic or Jewish or Hindu polygamy). I believe different cultures and different communities should set their own standards on these kinds of matters. Nor do I object to communities expelling those who are incompatible with community norms. The only issue I would raise is the question of to what degree these girls were "forced" into these relationships. Were they physically prevented from leaving? If not, then they weren't really forced, IMO. If so, then this fellow you're describing is simply a kidnapper. Could not local crime control services (militias, posses, constables, neighborhood watches, private security agencies, common law courts) not handle such a matter? Was this fellow in control of the local government? If he was, so what? How would that be any different than the many states around the world with incompetent or corrupt leadership? Local criminals no more justify a central government than tyrannical nation-states justify a world government. Yes, perhaps in a decentralized system, criminals might get control over some local communities. In fact, if you know much about municipal politics in many American cities, they're already running things. Yes, some local leaders might ignore or fail to prevent local crime. Like that doesn't happen in the present system. I am not a utopian, nor do I believe that everything that is "wrong" can be prevented or should necessarily be illegal. There are prototypes for the kinds of decentralist, intentional nations around the world today, whether in the form of micronations like Liechtenstein or Andorra or anarchistic communities that are no well-known or recognized. http://tinyurl.com/2hk5pc http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_anarchist_communities What I favor is the creation of intentional states, subdivided into particularist enclaves, as an alternative to the modern state. How could a civilization organized on the basis of autonomous city-states, townships, counties, communes or even fiefdoms possibly be more tyrannical than what we have seen over the past century, whether in the soft totalitarianism of present day mass democracy (which is a sort of synthesis of plutocracy, mob rule and bureaucratic collectivism under a managerial elite) or in the hard totalitarianism of other states (fascism, communism, nazism, etc.)? Sent at: 2008 07 06