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I think you have it almost exactly backward. I think it's because of decades of "daddy state" preachers telling people the government should provide the safety
by smeej 3y ago
I think you have it almost exactly backward. I think it's because of decades of "daddy state" preachers telling people the government should provide the safety net people fall back on.
The overwhelming majority of things that actually happen in your life could be solved by a close network of 100 or fewer family members and neighbors who helped each other out.
Someone gets sick or becomes disabled, someone loses a job, a car breaks down, a house burns down, the road cracks, a store has trouble making ends meet--these things do not need national governments taxing every single resident of the country to solve them.
It's exactly the sort of thing I'm talking about. There certainly are exceptions. When a dictator sends an army to bomb your whole town, your neighborhood isn't going to be able to fix that.
But the overwhelming majority of things people consider "problems" could be solved by a community of 100 or fewer people who actually know each other, care about each other's lives, and are willing to work together.
- mschuster91 3y ago> The overwhelming majority of things that actually happen in your life could be solved by a close network of 100 or fewer family members and neighbors who helped each other out. Housing and healthcare should be human rights, available to everyone, backed by the government, without being dependent on their family or their "near community". Imagine you're gay or trans, you live in a rural area and your family is Evangelical Christian. In a country with a strong government, you can be assured that you'll be taken care of with your basic needs. In a country that follows your ideals, you better do your best to conform to societal pressure, get a trophy wife and hide who you truly are all your life. Which environment sounds better to you? To me the answer is clear: the one with a strong government that guarantees everyone's right to live like they wish.
- smeej 3y agoYou say that unironically, as though there aren't "strong governments" in the world that behead gay and trans people, or even just women who have been victims of rape. You can have a meaningful impact on a community. It'll take time and effort, but you can actually have an impact. You can be the one who welcomes the rejected, who opens your house to the down and out, who shows people that love isn't something to fear. You can't affect your national government. If you get exceptionally lucky, you might be able to get sucked up by some political party as their knighted figurehead, but that only happens because you happen to agree with their agenda, not because you're the individual agent of change. I will gladly take the community of people who actually know each other and solve their problems together over the "strong government" every single day of the week and twice on Sundays.