[lit-ideas] Re: Paying taxes for months on end
- From: Judy Evans <judithevans001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 7 Jun 2005 15:42:42 +0100
Tuesday, June 7, 2005, 1:23:31 PM, Phil Enns wrote:
PE> Nonsense. Policing authorities, even guards at Gitmo, are found to have
PE> exceeded their powers in acting abusively so it is silly to say that
PE> whatever they do is what they had the power to do. The point of the
PE> court action was to discern whether the police were empowered, that is
PE> had the right, to do what they did. If they had 'absolutely no right to
PE> do that' then they would have been found guilty because they did not
PE> have the power to act as they did.
PE> Julie's confusion lies in equating 'power' with what the individuals are
PE> physically able to do.
That is, in the case of police acting as police. A man employed as a
policeman may have the power to beat me up but not qua policeman.
(Equally, armies lack the power to carry out coups.)
But you should perhaps consider this. The police have not been
granted the power (right) to beat people up, but most have the power
(capability) to do so. (As you know.)
So you might want to stop insisting on this point -- or adopt one of
the synonyms for power that covers this case, or speak of "powers", as
in "the powers of the police".
--
mailto:judithevans001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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