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A functioning democratic government is accountable to its people, while a private corporation is only accountable to its shareholders. Depending what you believ

A functioning democratic government is accountable to its people, while a private corporation is only accountable to its shareholders. Depending what you believe politically either, none or both could be true. Ultimately free markets can work against societal good just as much as an overly stringent and unaccountable government. Maximally accountable government and a moderately and fairly regulated market seems to be best of both worlds, but as we know it’s difficult. We’re looking at the extremes now in terms of speech - Parler has people literally planning attacks on the government in the open, that’s probably bad in terms of societal good. Finally a reminder that the ultimate point of corporations existing is for societal good. As is our government.

clusterfish 6y ago
Politicians are only accountable as much as they are subject to competitive pressure from other politicians. The same goes for corporations. Just as you can have a healthy democracy, you can have a healthy, regulated market. But unlike corporations, you can't really break up the government's monopoly on lawmaking and law enforcement. Governments can be some of the least accountable entities despite elections because they are natural monopolies that regulate themselves.
jokethrowaway 6y ago
The difference between a government and a corporation is that people can stop buying at any time and you can have plenty of choices. A democratic government is elected every X years and you have a very limited set of choices. It's plenty of time to forget about mistakes and that's too little choice to have accountable candidates.
- taurath 6y ago
  I don't think most people can stop buying comcast if they want internet, as a counterexample. I would say this - there's a good argument that our representatives are WAY WAY out of touch, simply because we don't have enough of them. In 1790 there was 1 congressperson per 33,000 people, and now it is per 800,000 people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_congressional_apportionment#Controversy_and_history https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_congressional_ap... If you had a congressperson with 1/20th of the constituents, they'd probably pay a lot more attention to you.
neogodless 6y ago
The accountability goes out the window when the government exerts influences over mass media and the "votes" are made based on a disinformation campaign.

clusterfish 6y ago

Politicians are only accountable as much as they are subject to competitive pressure from other politicians. The same goes for corporations. Just as you can have a healthy democracy, you can have a healthy, regulated market. But unlike corporations, you can't really break up the government's monopoly on lawmaking and law enforcement. Governments can be some of the least accountable entities despite elections because they are natural monopolies that regulate themselves.

jokethrowaway 6y ago

The difference between a government and a corporation is that people can stop buying at any time and you can have plenty of choices. A democratic government is elected every X years and you have a very limited set of choices. It's plenty of time to forget about mistakes and that's too little choice to have accountable candidates.

taurath 6y ago
I don't think most people can stop buying comcast if they want internet, as a counterexample. I would say this - there's a good argument that our representatives are WAY WAY out of touch, simply because we don't have enough of them. In 1790 there was 1 congressperson per 33,000 people, and now it is per 800,000 people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_congressional_apportionment#Controversy_and_history https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_congressional_ap... If you had a congressperson with 1/20th of the constituents, they'd probably pay a lot more attention to you.

neogodless 6y ago

The accountability goes out the window when the government exerts influences over mass media and the "votes" are made based on a disinformation campaign.