There are no good governments.
I’m really exhausted with this sovereign citizen crap, but when the government is trying to accrue more powers its worthwhile asking what else can be done with it.
For a prescient example: my mother welcomed policies that made protesting more-or-less illegal. “Just Stop Oil” had been doing a lot of nuisance things and she felt it justified. As did the right wing.
Now, when the far-right started marching[0] she was horrified to learn the extent of the new powers and said it was orwellian.
I use her as an example because I think HN leans left, but it will be the right wing folks who dislike government most. Obviously as a left winger myself- when the right wing government was installing anti-protest measures I was horrified, and was much more keen to point out they it could be used against people like my mum.
The government aren’t your friends, they are either changable- meaning all rules have to be solid enough to be used fairly even if the ruling party changes a lot, or: you’re living in something other than democracy, which is largely considered bad.
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_United_Kingdom_riots
I see the same thing in my parents, where actions become scary when "the other side" does them. It's a myopic arms race to the bottom of rational understanding.
>I’m really exhausted with this sovereign citizen crap,
I couldn't ask for a better example of my assertion above. For the moment, ignore their lunatic legal theories (rarely can one win cases in court by insulting judges and dismissing their powers to adjudicate). Their sentiment, at least, should be something you're sympathetic for. These aren't people who are disposing of liquid mercury in the local river or selling children to the coal mine as slaves. They're goofballs who want to drive down the road with their own homemade license plate. Rarely, if ever, do you read a story where they're doing something dangerous or harmful. Instead, it's always about them flaunting an attitude that the government shouldn't have power over them in the mundane activities of daily life. Despite that, they're among the most-hated of outgroups among the left. Why? Because when the fringe left is in charge, someday in the near future, it will be just as embarrassing to them that the sovereign citizens give them no respect as it is currently to the not-leftist-enoughs in charge now.
Dumping mercury in a local river is indeed bad, but driving without a license[0] increases the likelihood that you kill someone.
It's not either/or; you're choosing to break rules- many of which are written in blood.
Being "quirky" does not give you indemnity to potentially destroy a family.
You're somewhat prone to magical thinking. I can't wait for your misinterpreted statistics that, in your head, prove you correct.
A good government is one that changes the payout matrix in our daily equivalents so people choose cooperation over defection.
(But what prevents the government from defecting?)
It is that you cannot rely on government to be good. So you need checks and balances and also privacy to shield you from government overreach.
So the people get restless, and want to tear it all down, in the hope that we can start again fresh.
But I agree with the gist of it. Right now there are no democratic governments that are good for people. We live in barely disguised oligarchy run by thieves, imbeciles and sociopaths.
As an immigrant to Britain, I am appalled to see how fast inept legislators keep making things worse every time they try to fix them, and how the average voter keeps voting for the parties with the silliest and most destructive of ideas. I am so glad to be out of this place in the next few months. Looking forward to Reform to completely destroy the little that's left; hopefully a better place will rise out of the ashes. See you in 30 years, Britain.
Our period of instability has been brought upon by a discontent stemming from ever increasing economic inequalities. This isn't the first time it happens: look at the 30s. Europe turned to fascism and was demolished by pointless wars, America turned to social democracy with FDR and the new deal, and became the first hyperpower.
I am firmly in the camp that democracies are tolerable because they're the least worst of other alternatives. But they're very far away from any notion of good. They're pretty terrible and exploitable. They don't provide any practical countermeasure against greed, lies and general stupidity, which are very real human behaviours.
I do not believe that we humans are inherently greedy, no more than I believe we are inherently evil. I won't claim to know what the solution is, but our system needs to somehow stop rewarding greed and other anti-social behaviors.
Until the war, FDRs 'reforms' weren't making the country powerful or rich, maybe staunching the bleeding.
The buildup of industry for a war footing, the vacuum of the great powers/industries in rubble, large amounts of their intellectual human capital in America and the participants owing America a lot of money is what made America a hyper power after the war- and maybe the GI Bill a bit part.
Social security and the WPA had little to nothing to do with America's post war ascent...
As opposed to other forms of government that somehow have other tools???
> After a few decades, there are more things one cannot do than can do without lawyers, committees and councils breathing down your neck.
1. We have more freedom now than 200 years ago.
2. "Having lawyers breathing down your neck" is invariant with respect to the amount of freedom we have.