General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: So tell me, ...what did this guy do to deserve it? [View all]boppers
(16,588 posts)(Oh, and this website is about the democratic party, not direct democracy, or the philosophy of democracy).
In the chili framework:
US society has decided that you cannot publicly serve unsafe food. They've also decided the the public should be taxed to provided for public benefits. They've also decided that political protest which does not infringe upon others should be allowed.
So, if you want a chili cookoff, great! Get your food handling permits, pass food inspections, pay your taxes if you charge for the chili, and get site permits so it doesn't disrupt the rights of others.
That's not the "police" making up rules, that's the democracy deciding against anarchy, and the resulting exploitation of the gullible. The police are just a portion of the enforcement of the rules that democracy has already created.
If you flip the gameboard, and allow absolute freedom, where any person can make, and sell, anything they want, with no regulation, no policing, no permits, you get people poisoned, ecosystems trashed, economies wrecked, and the corrupt with even *more* power than they already have.
If you are against democracy creating any rules, well, that 1st amendment is a Democratically created rule, so you kind of cancel it out.