Quote:
Originally Posted by astralis
gunnut,
as with all things, there's a limit to this type of thinking. without government programs, the idea of nationhood becomes a lot weaker. after all, who's real eager to defend a government that won't do squat for you?
republican rome was like this. not too much in the way of government services. if there was a fire, well, you better have enough money to afford the firefighters- or else you'd watch your home burn down, and eager real-estate bargain hunters on the side waiting to buy your property on the cheap. sometimes the real-estate bargain hunters would bribe the firefighters to NOT put out the fire.
as a result, people still grew dependent. not on the government, persay, but on their local rich man, the boss of the area.
that's why the libertarian ideal is just that, an ideal. some people are naturally more hard-working/intelligent/clever than others. as a result, they get an advantage. nothing wrong with that, but the possibility is that they will capitalize on their advantage in such a way that they tilt the table against further competition. that's how such things as dictatorships or monopolies form.
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That's not entirely true. The government could exist first and foremost as a defense against foreign invaders. Internally, this government takes a very laid back attitude with minimal programs for all. The people defend this government so that they could live free and not defend it for the programs themselves.
I'm against welfare programs. Government should do as little as possible. That doesn't mean there should be no community funded firefighting or law enforcement. These programs "promote general welfare" as specified in the constitution rather than to provide specific welfare for a particular individual under a qualifying circumstance.
Government should provide postal service as specified in the constitution. It never said anything about housing insurance, FEMA, Amtrak, unemployment entitlements, food stamps, and a host of other very specific programs. Now we see the government trying to bail out people who bought houses too big for themselves and then offer nationalized health care. None of these things is anything close to "general welfare."