[afh1]

[flagged]

[contagiousflow]

How is that even a comparison? Governments are elected

Edit: To Americans, fix your own democracy before you think the idea of democracy is broken.

[nerdponx]

The idea that democracy is broken is a convenient piece of propaganda, promulgated by people who have something to gain by weakening the American government, whether that's financial or geopolitical.

[somelamer567]

The central tenet of techno-fascism / the hard alt-Right / the Dark Enlightenment, is that democracy itself is incompatible with "freedom" (as techno-fascists understand it).

[lr4444lr]

By rational people who can think in nuance, and aren't influenced by big campaign spending?

[afh1]

https://rintintin.colorado.edu/~vancecd/phil215/Nozick.pdf

[desumeku]

Is that supposed to make a difference?

[protimewaster]

What's the solution?

[_heimdall]

A smaller, less powerful government?

[htek]

I'm really not. The government consists of many people with a range of ideologies and ethics. Are there problems? Of course. But, the government has checks and balances, well, HAD checks and balances, separation of powers, and a Constitution that limited those powers. I'm more afraid of the corruption of the SCOTUS with dark money and a religio-fascist movement of persuasion and influence toward members of the SCOTUS, Congress, Judiciary and the Executive. It is a handful of billionaires who are driving this race toward authoritarianism.

[hnthrow90348765]

I'm more worried about losing my job/house/savings due to billionaires fucking around with the market, companies, and employees than the government.

>There lies the real concentration of power.

They're both real

[Muromec]

We should and some are. Now combining the two isnt making it less scary

[lm28469]

Billionaires influence the government, not the other way around, especially in the US which is heavily controlled by lobbyists...

[chasing]

I can participate in the selection and election of officials in the US Government. And I know my views have some small influence over their actions.

I can’t vote Peter Thiel out of being wealthy and obnoxious. And I know he doesn’t give a shit about me.

[cjfd]

Big countries are in a position to abuse their power. E.g., they start wars. Your worries are partially addressed by the separation of powers. The trillionaire government is split in three branches which helps curtail its power. It is not the task of a government to be efficient, it is the task of a government to be correct. I.e., have somewhat just laws that are executed somewhat correctly. I am saying 'somewhat' twice because one should not expect miracles but one can hope for livable and perhaps even prosperous conditions. The threatening collapse of this separation is one big current thing to worry about in the US. A government that respects the separation of powers is less threatening than a company of a tenth or a hundreth its size because the company can act out the will of a single individual. Generally it is true that if an individual/organization gets too much power he/she/it will find a way to abuse it. But government is also necessary to ensure that another, most likely much more intrusive government, comes in by force and starts reigning over you. And also to ensure that big companies and rich people do not abuse their power too much. What is needed in general is that the natural tendency of power to concentrate is kept in check by other powers. In the US this system was thrown out of whack mostly because of the enormous amounts of money needed to fund campaigns in combination with a two party system. It was way too easy to just buy both parties until one of the parties decided to go rogue and become the billionaire interest group, as if billionaires need an interest group. Over time enough damage, mostly in the form of large uncertainty and/or poverty for the average citizen, was done to society so the discontentment over this enabled the fascist leader to rise. Only the future can tell what the result of that will be but it is not impossible that a billion dead bodies will need to be buried because of this. Compared to that your 'ever increasing creep over all aspects of your life' seems a bit of a minor and/or theoretical concern.

[nerdponx]

The alternative of no or tightly-limited government is potentially worse. It's an economic form of the paradox of tolerance.

One can imagine all kinds of exotic forms of government that don't resemble a traditional large and centrally organized state, which still accomplish summer all of the goals that we might want a state to accomplish. But so far we have never seen that put into effect at any scale above a commune. So we are kind of stuck with the binary choice for the time being.

[layer8]

Governments (are supposed to) have checks and balances. Billionaires not so much.