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You need a model that is not financed through extortion. By granting a small part of the population rights and duties that would be criminal for anyone else to

You need a model that is not financed through extortion. By granting a small part of the population rights and duties that would be criminal for anyone else to perform (do you even have a right to extort, kidnap, and murder?), you are playing people against each other and perpetuating a struggle for control of the government to act on their behalf, at the expense of everyone else. governance ≠ government As long as extortion is involved, the various organs have no incentive to improve, and further more succumb to mission creep (1) to justify and expand their budget, necessitating further extortion. 1. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mission%20creep https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mission%20creep

JumpCrisscross 3y ago
> granting a small part of the population rights and duties that would be criminal for anyone else to perform No, I don’t want anyone to have nuclear codes. And yes, I want someone to ensure randos aren’t building nukes. > governance ≠ government Sure, but to the degree we’ve made progress on the problem of governance, it’s been in proving the necessity of government. Anarchist collectives far well until someone comes to take their stuff; this is basically the warlord era of any civilisation.
- s1artibartfast 3y ago
  To be fair, the current scope of government for most of the world is far beyond mutual defense at this point. Governments of the 19th and 20th Century also provided defense, and did so with a much smaller portion of GDP. I think there's a pretty strong argument that global military is close to a zero-sum game, but I agree that this doesn't mean there is a obvious alternative. Last, I think it's pretty indisputable that there's been significant scope creep given that western government taxation & spending are now pushing 50% of GDP. If you look at the US, the federal government was 2% of GDP in 1920, and closer to 25% today. This is despite 10x in inflation adjusted GDP per capita. This means that more realistically, government is consuming/directing 100x more productive capacity per person.
s1artibartfast 3y ago
Do you have a practical solution that you think people would adopt?
- a_gnostic 3y ago
  David D. Friedman's solution seems pretty good. http://www.daviddfriedman.com/The_Machinery_of_Freedom_.pdf http://www.daviddfriedman.com/The_Machinery_of_Freedom_.pdf
- a_gnostic 3y ago
  Law without government - Robert P. Murphy https:/www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8pcb4xyCic

JumpCrisscross 3y ago

> granting a small part of the population rights and duties that would be criminal for anyone else to perform No, I don’t want anyone to have nuclear codes. And yes, I want someone to ensure randos aren’t building nukes. > governance ≠ government Sure, but to the degree we’ve made progress on the problem of governance, it’s been in proving the necessity of government. Anarchist collectives far well until someone comes to take their stuff; this is basically the warlord era of any civilisation.

s1artibartfast 3y ago
To be fair, the current scope of government for most of the world is far beyond mutual defense at this point. Governments of the 19th and 20th Century also provided defense, and did so with a much smaller portion of GDP. I think there's a pretty strong argument that global military is close to a zero-sum game, but I agree that this doesn't mean there is a obvious alternative. Last, I think it's pretty indisputable that there's been significant scope creep given that western government taxation & spending are now pushing 50% of GDP. If you look at the US, the federal government was 2% of GDP in 1920, and closer to 25% today. This is despite 10x in inflation adjusted GDP per capita. This means that more realistically, government is consuming/directing 100x more productive capacity per person.

s1artibartfast 3y ago

Do you have a practical solution that you think people would adopt?

a_gnostic 3y ago
David D. Friedman's solution seems pretty good. http://www.daviddfriedman.com/The_Machinery_of_Freedom_.pdf http://www.daviddfriedman.com/The_Machinery_of_Freedom_.pdf
a_gnostic 3y ago
Law without government - Robert P. Murphy https:/www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8pcb4xyCic