With respect, I find that suggestion laughable. We have massive economic machines which run our lives, and having weak government is exactly why. In a democracy, the government has a responsibility to protect the vulnerable from the predatory. Our government is owned by private interests that don’t give a damn for how their policies wreak havoc on the majority. Small government has long been Republican-speak. Now it’s the ideology of the oligarchs.
OMG, If you believe our government is small and weak, that is ridiculous. It is more powerful, more authoritarian than ever and only gaining. Corporations have no power over an individual except THROUGH the government. They help write the legislation to protect themselves and the status quo, this squashes new competition. Without that kind of governmental protection we would see more competition and more turnover long term. And republicans are talk only, basically just democrats in reality who favor status quo and more power. Whatever reductions in govt power or budget excess they have ever actually produced are so minuscule to be unmeasurable.
I agree: government is neither small nor weak. But I think we may also agree that in the modern neoliberal world, government is merely a handmaiden of private power. Our governance system includes government, but it extends to—and is dominated by—the private sector, including the cleverly named Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), think tanks and other privatized national-security-state cutouts, lobbyist organizations, political parties, all global capitalist corporations, and, of course, those oligarchic social clubs for our ruling elites, like the WEF and Bilderbergers.
Our rulers are hardly going to rely on government bureaucrats and bought-and-paid-for politicians to protect their vital interests and preserve their dominance over the masses.
My beef is with some libertarians who want to blame every evil on government alone instead of realizing that there is actually almost no separation at all between public and private power.
The line that you see between the “authoritarian” state and the private sector exists in your mind. The two-party system is a charade. The elected Senators and Representatives and the President are the paid minions of those with the deep pockets. You see a lack of competition as the crux of the problem, and I say this country needs to give democracy a shot. More competition won’t inspire the Washington lackeys to faithfully represent their constituents. When money is removed from the electoral process, the lackeys can’t be bought. Democracy cannot be achieved by having more alphas vying for control that never should be up for grabs.
They'll be devout True Believers, which is even worse.
Nobody needs a state except slavers and rentiers. Those relations don't actually need to exist. We need to be destroying gods, not "reforming" them to keep the middle class slavers in the style to which they are accustomed.
With respect, I find that suggestion laughable. We have massive economic machines which run our lives, and having weak government is exactly why. In a democracy, the government has a responsibility to protect the vulnerable from the predatory. Our government is owned by private interests that don’t give a damn for how their policies wreak havoc on the majority. Small government has long been Republican-speak. Now it’s the ideology of the oligarchs.
OMG, If you believe our government is small and weak, that is ridiculous. It is more powerful, more authoritarian than ever and only gaining. Corporations have no power over an individual except THROUGH the government. They help write the legislation to protect themselves and the status quo, this squashes new competition. Without that kind of governmental protection we would see more competition and more turnover long term. And republicans are talk only, basically just democrats in reality who favor status quo and more power. Whatever reductions in govt power or budget excess they have ever actually produced are so minuscule to be unmeasurable.
I agree: government is neither small nor weak. But I think we may also agree that in the modern neoliberal world, government is merely a handmaiden of private power. Our governance system includes government, but it extends to—and is dominated by—the private sector, including the cleverly named Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), think tanks and other privatized national-security-state cutouts, lobbyist organizations, political parties, all global capitalist corporations, and, of course, those oligarchic social clubs for our ruling elites, like the WEF and Bilderbergers.
Our rulers are hardly going to rely on government bureaucrats and bought-and-paid-for politicians to protect their vital interests and preserve their dominance over the masses.
My beef is with some libertarians who want to blame every evil on government alone instead of realizing that there is actually almost no separation at all between public and private power.
The line that you see between the “authoritarian” state and the private sector exists in your mind. The two-party system is a charade. The elected Senators and Representatives and the President are the paid minions of those with the deep pockets. You see a lack of competition as the crux of the problem, and I say this country needs to give democracy a shot. More competition won’t inspire the Washington lackeys to faithfully represent their constituents. When money is removed from the electoral process, the lackeys can’t be bought. Democracy cannot be achieved by having more alphas vying for control that never should be up for grabs.
They'll be devout True Believers, which is even worse.
Nobody needs a state except slavers and rentiers. Those relations don't actually need to exist. We need to be destroying gods, not "reforming" them to keep the middle class slavers in the style to which they are accustomed.