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I agree with most of your points actually. It's the problem that I was addressing with "who are themselves subject to scrutiny"; note that somehow we find that

by davidp 13y ago

I agree with most of your points actually. It's the problem that I was addressing with "who are themselves subject to scrutiny"; note that somehow we find that corrupt judges are the exception rather than the rule, in no small part because we are able to publicly examine their work. So the idea of a secret court poses its own especially difficult problems. On the other hand, it's impossible to have a society anything like ours if you build around zero-trust systems. If you say that fundamentally nobody in power can be trusted, for any length of time and under any system of checks and balances, then you may as well advocate true anarchy or survival-of-the-fittest.

snitko 13y ago
I do think you can't fundamentally trust anyone in power, because the incentives for them are in the wrong place. The problem with people's view of government and democratic systems is that they judge it by intentions, not results. The result will almost always be the same: abuse. Even democratically elected government will have distorted intentions, because there are no true market mechanisms preventing it from disserving its customers: you can vote once in 4 years and even then you're not guaranteed any results. If a politician fails to deliver on his promises (which they always do), there are no severe sanctions. Anarchy doesn't mean lack of rules, poor people dying on the street and violent gangs killing each other. In fact, violent gangs ruling people is what we have now with governments - it's just that it is presented in a good light. But the true nature of violence can still be occasionally seen, as recent events prove. The demand for safety net, protection and all other things government currently provides doesn't suddenly evaporate when you don't have a government. If people want something, market provides it. If the majority of people don't want poor to starve, there is nothing in the world that can stop them from donating to charities. If they believe a charity fails to deliver, they withdraw money immediately.

by davidp 13y ago

snitko 13y ago

I do think you can't fundamentally trust anyone in power, because the incentives for them are in the wrong place. The problem with people's view of government and democratic systems is that they judge it by intentions, not results. The result will almost always be the same: abuse. Even democratically elected government will have distorted intentions, because there are no true market mechanisms preventing it from disserving its customers: you can vote once in 4 years and even then you're not guaranteed any results. If a politician fails to deliver on his promises (which they always do), there are no severe sanctions. Anarchy doesn't mean lack of rules, poor people dying on the street and violent gangs killing each other. In fact, violent gangs ruling people is what we have now with governments - it's just that it is presented in a good light. But the true nature of violence can still be occasionally seen, as recent events prove. The demand for safety net, protection and all other things government currently provides doesn't suddenly evaporate when you don't have a government. If people want something, market provides it. If the majority of people don't want poor to starve, there is nothing in the world that can stop them from donating to charities. If they believe a charity fails to deliver, they withdraw money immediately.