4 ms·

Damn straight. Thirty years of moving things out of government because of perceived inefficiency has put us in a place where our lives are governed by systems w

Damn straight. Thirty years of moving things out of government because of perceived inefficiency has put us in a place where our lives are governed by systems which are both inefficient and unaccountable, or - worse - efficient at the /wrong things/ and unaccountable.

4ntonius8lock 8y ago
I'm actually 100% against the privatization of basic social needs such as police, firefighting, water distribution, prisons, health care, etc. But... why are you bringing this up? I never said 1 thing to the contrary. I never said there wasn't corruption in the private sector. I never said we should get rid of the public sector. I said I was amazed at the leniency given to public sector employees which is NOT given to private sector employees. Your post doesn't contradict this. I never argued about government being bad or good. My argument was more toward being an informed citizen that presses for things that matter. Knowing this double standard exists is important in improving it. I'm amazed at how many people will put out non sequiturs, strawmans and other sophist mechanisms as soon as something is said against people with boots.
- da_chicken 8y ago
  > But... why are you bringing this up? Because an overwhelming majority of threads like this, someone will use government corruption as the excuse to get up on their soapbox and proclaim that's why government is evil. They'll rattle on about how private enterprise isn't evil at all, and when you point out things they do wrong, they'll shout "regulatory capture!" like it's some bogeyman that keeps the unregulated, free market from creating the utopia that only unrestricted capitalism can. They're not contradicting you. They're heading off the hyper-libertarians who think the laissez-faire free market will magically solve all problems and lead us Moses-like to some divine land of milk and honey, because somehow the market can solve all problems of corruption, information control, labor vs capital stress, etc. These people haven't read where Adam Smith argued for government regulation, or how unrestrained, unregulated capitalism was already tried in the 19th century and it failed with horrific results and widespread human casualties on an unimaginable scale.
  - 4ntonius8lock 8y ago
    I 100% understand where you are coming from. Maybe there is a better way to interject this reminder? It was posted in a way that seems like a rebuttal. It's also off topic to the point being made. Or maybe make your own comment on the main article? I don't know. Just feels out of place. Like when someone is talking about the issues with private sector and someone randomly starts talking bad about the public... it doesn't really help IMO. We need to be able to address things without a 'whataboutism'.

4ntonius8lock 8y ago

I'm actually 100% against the privatization of basic social needs such as police, firefighting, water distribution, prisons, health care, etc. But... why are you bringing this up? I never said 1 thing to the contrary. I never said there wasn't corruption in the private sector. I never said we should get rid of the public sector. I said I was amazed at the leniency given to public sector employees which is NOT given to private sector employees. Your post doesn't contradict this. I never argued about government being bad or good. My argument was more toward being an informed citizen that presses for things that matter. Knowing this double standard exists is important in improving it. I'm amazed at how many people will put out non sequiturs, strawmans and other sophist mechanisms as soon as something is said against people with boots.

da_chicken 8y ago
> But... why are you bringing this up? Because an overwhelming majority of threads like this, someone will use government corruption as the excuse to get up on their soapbox and proclaim that's why government is evil. They'll rattle on about how private enterprise isn't evil at all, and when you point out things they do wrong, they'll shout "regulatory capture!" like it's some bogeyman that keeps the unregulated, free market from creating the utopia that only unrestricted capitalism can. They're not contradicting you. They're heading off the hyper-libertarians who think the laissez-faire free market will magically solve all problems and lead us Moses-like to some divine land of milk and honey, because somehow the market can solve all problems of corruption, information control, labor vs capital stress, etc. These people haven't read where Adam Smith argued for government regulation, or how unrestrained, unregulated capitalism was already tried in the 19th century and it failed with horrific results and widespread human casualties on an unimaginable scale.
- 4ntonius8lock 8y ago
  I 100% understand where you are coming from. Maybe there is a better way to interject this reminder? It was posted in a way that seems like a rebuttal. It's also off topic to the point being made. Or maybe make your own comment on the main article? I don't know. Just feels out of place. Like when someone is talking about the issues with private sector and someone randomly starts talking bad about the public... it doesn't really help IMO. We need to be able to address things without a 'whataboutism'.