To all the people who hate politicians/the government

[Waymore]

@protoboard

Yes but not a truly democratic one since blacks were denied the vote, well for slavery that is.

And the system is truly democratic now?

There were black members of Congress during reconstruction, but the US was still a shitty place to be non-white.

[Tim_R.Mortiss]

@protoboard

You’re aware that without a government the poor and middle class and by extension just about every minority would be even more disadvantaged than they are now right? Is this OK with you?

Again, I must respectfully disagree. Why do people trust government more than they trust corporations? Government, just like corporations, are made up of fallible, corruptible, imperfect human beings who care more about themselves than those they purport to serve. But corporations are much easier to “fire” (that is, avoid) then governments are. Lesser of two evils and all that.

[Waymore]

@Tim_R.Mortiss

Again, I must respectfully disagree. Why do people trust government more than they trust corporations? Government, just like corporations, are made up of fallible, corruptible, imperfect human beings who care more about themselves than those they purport to serve. But corporations are much easier to “fire” (that is, avoid) then governments are. Lesser of two evils and all that.

I know it’s a bit of a meme, but I think there’s a lot of merit to the idea that people educated in government schools tend to not see government for what it is.

[protoboard]

@Tim_R.Mortiss

Again, I must respectfully disagree. Why do people trust government more than they trust corporations? Government, just like corporations, are made up of fallible, corruptible, imperfect human beings who care more about themselves than those they purport to serve. But corporations are much easier to “fire” (that is, avoid) then governments are. Lesser of two evils and all that.

I strongly disagree that corporations are the lesser of the two evils lol. And corporations aren’t responsible to “the people” - they’re responsible to people with money. Big difference.

[Waymore]

@protoboard

I strongly disagree that corporations are the lesser of the two evils lol. And corporations aren’t responsible to “the people” - they’re responsible to people with money. Big difference.

So people with money don’t have a disproportionate influence in government?

[marshmallow]

The problem is when you give human beings power they become assholes. That’s just a scientific fact.

[mbh]

It’s not a simple either/or situation.

I don’t want to get rid of all government. I just want it to be smaller. I think most social services would be better administered by local governments. I think most economic and agricultural services would be better administered by state governments.

Andrew Jackson was quite capable of destroying big corporations, even though his government was a fraction of the size of today’s government.

Governments do good things. Governments do bad things. I am skeptical that big federal bureaucracies do as much good as their proponents claim. When things go bad, a smaller government would have less capacity to do harm.

A high-ranking government bureaucrat, with lots of seniority and his union dues paid up, is much like a high-ranking corporate executive: impossible to fire unless he overtly kills someone.

attributed to Davy Crockett:

A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take everything you have.

I don’t think my privacy is safe in the hands of FBI or NSA. If we went to single-payer healthcare, I don’t think my privacy would be any safer in the hands of HHS.

To all of the people who hate corporations so vehemently: do you also hate the ACLU, NAACP, AFL-CIO, and the American Cancer Society? These organizations are empowered by the same laws that govern Enron and Halliburton.