How would you determine the right size? By population? — Vera Mont
What is the optimal scope and power and responsibility for an effective government? — Vera Mont
What is the minimum function and authority that a national government must have? — Vera Mont
Completely open governance, fully scrutinised.What is the maximum it should be allowed to have? — Vera Mont
The maintenance and enhancement of the well-being of its citizens.What is the optimal scope and power and responsibility for an effective government? — Vera Mont
In rejection of this, the state should be concerned with securing the natural rights of human beings and making justice accessible. Beyond that it should not go. — NOS4A2
It’s no wonder that beneath its self-aggrandizement the government is simply a mechanism for taking money from one person’s pockets and putting it in another. — NOS4A2
I don’t think there is any turning back. — NOS4A2
Where do these 'natural rights' of human beings come from? What is 'justice'? In nature, the best adapted genetic material survives in offspring; some organisms find mutual protection in societies and evolve social orders. I do not believe 'justice' exists as anything but a social concept elaborated by humans. How else can it exist? As soon as a concept is defined in human terms, it ceases to be natural. Yet how can undefined concepts be secured?
One needn’t examine a law to discover that man ought to have a right to life, for example. He can do that by considering his own nature and that of others. — NOS4A2
Children recognize unfairness at a very young age. — NOS4A2
So? It is not in our nature to agree on everything. That’s why I afford them the right to disagree. — NOS4A2
Truth is you and I do not make any laws, and since we are a part of society, society does not make laws. — NOS4A2
I suppose it is hard know the exact benefit of certain government investments in the shorter term. — TiredThinker
I worry concern over size is driven by paranoia over being watched like China watches its citizens, or at least AI does. — TiredThinker
If the government programs get things done more efficiently than individuals can than all the better. — TiredThinker
As far as intelligence there should be less redundancy, but I fear one big intell agency without any groups that can investigate them as a safe guard. — TiredThinker
electric companies and things that literally are ridiculous to have redundancy — TiredThinker
Another thing that complicates the industry is the fact that there are regulated and deregulated markets. Each state has particular laws relating to the energy market and whether it is regulated or deregulated. So the state you operate in will have a significant effect on what options you have.
So far, nobody wanted to make government smaller - at least in the US — Vera Mont
I would like to explore a different path, focusing on a hypothetical decentralizing of the federal government. This would be one in which the US Fed, and the power that it has been amassing since the nation's conception, would be be returned to the states, resulting (sooner or later) in a more localized government system. — Elysium House
At any rate, if you want to get into a thinking exercise about going smaller with government I am happy to oblige. — Elysium House
A complex society in a complex world requires a complex government capable of meeting very large and unexpected threats to our stability and security — BC
Distribution of resources WITHIN the governmental agencies could be organized along different lines. Less money should be allocated for defense. — BC
Tax laws are a good example. These are unfair to start with, and moreover reduce the productivity of the economy. — BC
The economy is everybody, and while banks, government controls, and so on can speed up or slow down the economy, nobody is "in charge" of it. — BC
A lot of what the government does, and does well, does not touch everyone, so many people think the government does nothing. — BC
I very much doubt that Americans (or Canadians, for that matter) really know much about their government and what it does, or how. — Vera Mont
There is a lot of controversy over big government.
What does that mean? — Vera Mont
Difficult question, but I have a thought that could narrow it down. It requires a bit of background.How would you determine the right size? By population? By complexity? By economy? — Vera Mont
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