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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: geode00 who wrote (198262)	8/20/2006 4:37:45 AM
From: Bilow	Respond to of 281500

Hi geode00; Re: "The underlying concept of the US government isn't fairness, it's the sovereignty of the people." That was true at one time. (Maybe from 1784 to 1800.) Certainly sovereignty was the justification for the founding of the country. But at the present time, the people have very little sovereignty. We're run by lawyers. Our laws amount to millions of pages. Heck, the government throws people in jail for buying cell phones. I'll stand by my analysis of the US government (and to a large extent its people) being driven by a desire for fairness much more than by a desire for sovereignty or efficiency. Look at the arguments on FADG. Almost all of them are about right or wrong, i.e. fairness. Those guys who bought the cell phones will be treated "fairly". That is, they will eventually not be convicted of anything even though the government will cost them a lot of money and grief. Look at the charges that they're currently being held under: The federal complaint alleges that the men defrauded consumers, TracFone Wireless Inc. and Nokia Corp. by buying up the prepaid phones, then removing TracFone's proprietary software, making it possible to use the handsets with any cellular provider. The government alleges the altered phones are no longer genuine Nokia products even though they bear Nokia's trademark. People involved in the trade of so-called "unlocked" cell phones maintain that it is legal, and there haven't been any court rulings to indicate otherwise. The charge of conspiracy to commit fraud by trafficking counterfeit goods is punishable by up to five years in prison. Money laundering carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. kristv.com -- Carl