Magic Poriferan
^He pronks, too!
- Joined
- Nov 4, 2007
- Messages
- 14,081
- MBTI Type
- Yin
- Enneagram
- One
- Instinctual Variant
- sx/sp
A society ruled by corporations cannot be expected to uphold any standard of fairness or protect any rights. However, if a corporation or more likely a collection of corporations have the power to possess the government and rule society, they will certainly make the attempt. One must have a government that is at least capable of preventing itself from becoming the device of more powerful corporate forces. The thing is, modern technology has raised the standard of power very high. Totalitarianism has never been easier. It takes an enormous amount of power to be free of threat from corporations.
Libertarians often say they do want a government, but a minimal one. They often say they want a government that is only as powerful as it needs to be to enforce basic rights (for Americans, they generally mean the bill of rights) and general property laws. I don't think most libertarians understand how much power that is. Libertarians seem to envision a government so small and weak that it would undoubtedly become a device of corporate forces. The USA's government is that weak, and libertarians seem convinced that it is too strong. With this error, libertarians only pave a path for a state of corporatism as respectful of rights as Fascist Italy.
This so-called small government is anachronistic, it is not an element of the 21st century. Mass communication, mass transit, and digitization has opened a whole new realm. Organizations can be broader, deeper, more complex; they can be much more powerful. It makes no difference for the freedom of the people if a government chooses not to use this power, because it will simply be pushed around by whatever does choose to use this power. Better to embrace it from the start so that we can at least tie that totalitarian power to encompassing interests rather than narrow ones.
Libertarians often say they do want a government, but a minimal one. They often say they want a government that is only as powerful as it needs to be to enforce basic rights (for Americans, they generally mean the bill of rights) and general property laws. I don't think most libertarians understand how much power that is. Libertarians seem to envision a government so small and weak that it would undoubtedly become a device of corporate forces. The USA's government is that weak, and libertarians seem convinced that it is too strong. With this error, libertarians only pave a path for a state of corporatism as respectful of rights as Fascist Italy.
This so-called small government is anachronistic, it is not an element of the 21st century. Mass communication, mass transit, and digitization has opened a whole new realm. Organizations can be broader, deeper, more complex; they can be much more powerful. It makes no difference for the freedom of the people if a government chooses not to use this power, because it will simply be pushed around by whatever does choose to use this power. Better to embrace it from the start so that we can at least tie that totalitarian power to encompassing interests rather than narrow ones.
