Madine,

"Ownership" can't be confused with authority - they are not the same. The poorest peasant in the most totalitarian society can still have "ownership" over some things - the peasant may have to own them in secret, but will still find a way to keep at least a few things out of the prying eyes of government.

Who controls the banking system and what the difference between public and private control is are irrelevant questions until you ask what type of system they are running - one that uses fiat money or sound money, one that monopolizes credit or deregulates credit. There are central banks that the Fed is beholden to as well - like the Bank of International Settlements. If the Fed is the bankers bank, then the BIS is the central bankers central bank.

I am not sure what answer you are looking for with your last question, but there are many differences and many similarities. Tax is tax - tax is the (forced) transference of labor from the individual to the state via a system of currency or trade, with the labor transferred being used, in theory, to the benefit of the individuals that make up the state. The differences exist only in the semantics of collection, distribution, etc.

As the Communist bloc continues to diminish, the forces of conservatism in the world are getting ever stronger. The USA, the UK (in a practical if not a party-nominal sense) and Australia are all 'enjoying' arguably their most conservative governments in recent history. The media too are increasingly in the hands of fewer individuals, each with greater influence, and the vast majority of whom are open and fervent adherents of conservative thinking.

I have lost count of the number of times recently that I have opened 'the Australian' (one of Rupert Murdoch's News Ltd. stable) to find the letters page made up largely of liberal viewpoints but the opinion page opposite dominated by conservative ones.

So, I have just one question of those conservatives who - like Mr. Card - continue to express concern about a supposed liberal bias in certain aspects of the media. People, the scales seem to be tipping ever further in your favour, yet you are still unhappy. What will it take before you are comfortable with the range of opinion expressed within the media - will there be no rest until the last voice of liberal 'dissent' is silenced? Because that, my friends, is not conservatism; it is fascism.