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> But to claim that only a government can build those things and therefore you are forever indebted to the society as a whole is just plain wrong. It is wrong

• tks2103 13y ago
  No, I am not equating government and society. I am questioning the simplistic view that a person can exist today and succeed independent of the society they grew up in. What do you mean government is a foreign body on society? Society is made of people, and people usually make up governments.
  • nzp 13y ago
    > No, I am not equating government and society. I am questioning the simplistic view that a person can exist today and succeed independent of the society they grew up in. Then we are in complete agreement on that. I was pretty sure you didn't equate them, but asked because snitko made it seem like you did. I assumed he just read that into what you wrote, but better to check. > What do you mean government is a foreign body on society? Society is made of people, and people usually make up governments. Governments are generally not there to benefit society, but to impose the will of those in power on it. You can, of course, cite many philosophical speculations that it isn't so, but the reality doesn't support those speculations. Almost all good any government has done for the people who are not in power was fought for by those not in power, or is simply a preemptive scheme to calm down the masses.