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Originally Posted by entropy
Thank you.
Bluesman,
What I do not understand completely is for example the relation between national interest and government. For example, if a war has to be fought, how do you know the government isn't lying?
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By our very own distrusting nature we can ensure the government doesn't lie through its teeth. There will always be people there whose sole mission in life is to prove that government is lying to us. All we have to do is take all these information and judge for ourselves to see which one makes more sense. The government or those who say the government is lying (on a specific issue).
For example: 9-11. Government says Al Queda did it. Rosie said government did it. We take both sides and look at which theory is more plausible. Most think the government is telling the truth, while the celebrities believe the government is lying. You be the judge.
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Originally Posted by entropy
Then, how does distrust affect voting?
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We find the one that appears to lie less...
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Originally Posted by entropy
And what about government services that are impossible to provide by private companies?
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Private companies can provide just about everything you want. The difference is pricing. Private companies can do everything cheaper, with higher efficiency. However with subsidies, government services "appears" to be cheaper. Remember, private companies' services are pay as you go while government collects a periodic lumpsum charge from you regardless of the services you use.
The only thing that a government does well is prestige. Private industries don't normally get involved in pissing contests because there's no profit. Right now, there's no profit to go to the moon, so no one does that. We did it in 1969 because we were trying to see if we can piss farther than the Soviets. We did. Yay. Now what?
If there's money to be made, someone will do it. Space travel used to be the domain of government agencies because it was expensive and there's no profit. It was a pissing contests with the Soviets. Now Burt Rutan and Richard Branson have teamed up to offer space travel (albeit only suborbital) for the rich (not even super rich, just rich will be able to afford it). We just might see orbital hotels within our life time.
Government is a necessary evil. It is not our caretaker. That is the fundamental difference between us and the euros.