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The ability to vote with your feet is one of the most valuable checks and balances on government. Few people leave after one lost election, but if the governmen

by SiVal 14y ago

The ability to vote with your feet is one of the most valuable checks and balances on government. Few people leave after one lost election, but if the government gradually becomes toxic, it's better to have alternatives nearby than to have to leave the country. And the more easily you can leave a bad government's jurisdiction for a better one, the harder it is for it to just do whatever it feels like doing to you, and the more likely you are to be able to stay where you are. I find your example ironic, given how many Israelis are in Israel because they made a choice to leave their jobs, dwellings, friends, etc., in one society to join another. Few did so after one lost election, but most Israelis I've talked to have been very glad that they had alternatives. Many would have been happier if they had had a good alternative closer to home, but those back home who preferred large-scale governments deliberately eliminated the possibility of local alternatives.

eli_gottlieb 14y ago
I find your example ironic, given how many Israelis are in Israel because they made a choice to leave their jobs, dwellings, friends, etc., in one society to join another. Few did so after one lost election, but most Israelis I've talked to have been very glad that they had alternatives. Many would have been happier if they had had a good alternative closer to home, but those back home who preferred large-scale governments deliberately eliminated the possibility of local alternatives. More right-wing nonsense! Because a government large enough to provide health-care is automatically LARGE ENOUGH TO COMMIT MAJOR GENOCIDE AND DRIVE YOUR WHOLE ETHNICITY OUT OF THE COUNTRY! We had better implement a system of permanent migration in the American style to make sure nobody suffers genocide by letting everyone flee to everywhere as soon as someone passes an income tax! Or, you know, we could, unlike you, decide to base our politics on something other than childish, paranoid anarchist hysteria and actually implement an effective democracy that lets us run our lives without having to hoard guns and gold bullion in the family caravan.

by SiVal 14y ago

eli_gottlieb 14y ago

I find your example ironic, given how many Israelis are in Israel because they made a choice to leave their jobs, dwellings, friends, etc., in one society to join another. Few did so after one lost election, but most Israelis I've talked to have been very glad that they had alternatives. Many would have been happier if they had had a good alternative closer to home, but those back home who preferred large-scale governments deliberately eliminated the possibility of local alternatives. More right-wing nonsense! Because a government large enough to provide health-care is automatically LARGE ENOUGH TO COMMIT MAJOR GENOCIDE AND DRIVE YOUR WHOLE ETHNICITY OUT OF THE COUNTRY! We had better implement a system of permanent migration in the American style to make sure nobody suffers genocide by letting everyone flee to everywhere as soon as someone passes an income tax! Or, you know, we could, unlike you, decide to base our politics on something other than childish, paranoid anarchist hysteria and actually implement an effective democracy that lets us run our lives without having to hoard guns and gold bullion in the family caravan.