Comment Re:Well i live in Europe (Belgium)... (Score 1) 234
I think it's telling that people talk about THE government, never MY government. The United States government has been given far more power than its liberal foundations ever allowed for. As the power of the Supreme Court has increasingly eroded and become seen as merely a tool of the other branches, a viscious cycle is instituted whereby unconstitutional, socialist government programs are instituted. With time people become increasingly dependant on these programs and come to expect more and more of their life to be taken care of and thus government programs balloon.
People don't care if the government can gather whatever information about their lives. In many ways, it is comforting; the security of a benevolent parent. Unfortunately, this seems to encourage only two kinds of people to become public servants: those who view themselves as parents of a basically naive population and people who see the enormous opportunities at taking advantage of such trusting infants.
The only way to safeguard the interests of individuals is careful criticism of all tendencies towards easy government programs which erode a vibrant culture based on ideals of freedom and personal responsibility. Oops! Did I say the "R" word? Above all this word stands as the antithesis of an infantile-minded population with both its caretakers and parasites.
Indeed, a fully mature population requires relatively few coordinators to work as a ponderous beaureucratic machinery and above all will despise any attempts at handing over so much private information to anyone, especially to those who are the greatest position to take advantage of it. They will be much more interested in asserting their own position within the governing of their society. They will want to be able to say "MY government."
Sorry, didn't mean to make a speech, but talk about trading freedom for security gets me really irked.
People don't care if the government can gather whatever information about their lives. In many ways, it is comforting; the security of a benevolent parent. Unfortunately, this seems to encourage only two kinds of people to become public servants: those who view themselves as parents of a basically naive population and people who see the enormous opportunities at taking advantage of such trusting infants.
The only way to safeguard the interests of individuals is careful criticism of all tendencies towards easy government programs which erode a vibrant culture based on ideals of freedom and personal responsibility. Oops! Did I say the "R" word? Above all this word stands as the antithesis of an infantile-minded population with both its caretakers and parasites.
Indeed, a fully mature population requires relatively few coordinators to work as a ponderous beaureucratic machinery and above all will despise any attempts at handing over so much private information to anyone, especially to those who are the greatest position to take advantage of it. They will be much more interested in asserting their own position within the governing of their society. They will want to be able to say "MY government."
Sorry, didn't mean to make a speech, but talk about trading freedom for security gets me really irked.
