Is it normal to be constantly afraid of government?
Is it normal to be constantly afraid of government?
For Context: I live in the United States of America.
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Define constantly, define afraid.
If you continually maintain readiness for government violation of your rights, no problem. If your heart rate is elevated and you’re sweating in fear, that’s a pretty serious problem.
As Bruce Lee said, “Do not be tense, but ready”.
Yeah the government is a monster and it might come get you. That’s true. But the likelihood it’s coming to get you right now is very low and being in constant fear is no way to live. And the government isn’t the only monster.
Buuuuut, if you think your houseplant is an undercover CIA agent or your entire family including your dog has been replaced with hyper realistic govt robots, you need to seek medical attention immediately.
If they replaced your family they definitely replaced your psychiatrist too.
it's not impossible that they even replaced you!
Holy shit I’m delicious
And the government isn’t the only monster.
Very important. Otherwise you become a Libertarian or a Theocrat.
Well I'm a libertarian because it takes into account all the other monsters. The goal of government is to maximize freedom. That doesnt' mean anarchy, because people are less free under anarchy than they are under properly-operating government.
IMO a government should be just powerful enough to prevent other governments from forming. Like, the purpose of an army in a democracy is to prevent other armies from coming to install a dictatorship over the people.
Or to mirror the common saying about guns: "The only way to stop a bad government with an army, is with a good government with an army".
But the other monsters are gangs, corporations, individuals. And a good government enforces rules that prevent those other monsters from taking away your freedom.
But yeah. Basic point is that libertarian => government's purpose is to maximize freedom
Libertarians are anarchists with suits. I hope you are a edgy 16 year old because I think you got a lot to learn about how the government works and how society works
Libertarians are anarchists with suits
You don’t see this as “edgy” at all? Like what value are we to obtain from this comment as readers?
The American libertarian party and anarchists in all of their flavors (minus an-caps) are wildly different. What brought you to that conclusion?
I get the sentiment, and agree with it in theory. But in practice, the libertarian party in America is going to give you corporate tyranny
We already have corporate tyranny. That’s why Lemmy exists.
But why do you think that about the American Libertarian party specifically?
So, I was gonna do a lot of research into seeing if the libertarian party actually proposes policy the way you suggested (in that corporate tyranny limits freedoms and therefore the libertarian party would be for policy that regulates corporations) but that's a lot of work I don't wanna do so instead I'm going to ask you if you're aware of any such policy
By the way, I am very pro small business (I partner with some friends in our own business, actually), and recognize the sentiment of "if the government regulates the market, then who regulates the government". I would like to see the government solve positive and negative externalities by providing contracts to small businesses, as well as have the government function as a competitor to big corporations. But from what I can tell, the libertarian party is libertarian in the sense that they think government should have no authority over the markets.
Again, I want it to be extremely accessible for individuals to take initiative in the market, but eveb right wing economists recognize that market failures exist for capitalism (such as in climate change or cybersec) and those negative externalities need to be addressed through some kind of regulation