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And you rarely see libertarians here in Canada. For all its warts, our government mostly works: healthcare is pretty good, education is pretty good, regulation

And you rarely see libertarians here in Canada. For all its warts, our government mostly works: healthcare is pretty good, education is pretty good, regulations are generally not onerous, taxes are pretty low, crime is pretty low, etc. It's a solid B- government, and that seems to apply regardless of who's in power. So while you get disagreements on what government should or should not do, you don't really get disagreements about whether or not government is good: it's mostly ok. I agree, the American government (on all levels) seems to be particularly dysfunctional, so it makes sense that many Americans would look at it and conclude that government writ large is bad. Combined with the American propensity for introspection and self-criticism, the very real observation that American government is bad leads to the (imho erroneous) conclusion that all government is bad, ignoring the fact that most western governments, while flawed, are nowhere near as flawed as yours is.

einhverfr 13y ago
> And you rarely see libertarians here in Canada. I think that is because your provinces have actual positive jurisdictions of sovereignty, as opposed to the very weak protections our states have. > For all its warts, our government mostly works: healthcare is pretty good, education is pretty good, regulations are generally not onerous, taxes are pretty low, crime is pretty low, etc. For example, there is no "Canadian Health Care System." Rather there is some federal money that goes to provinces as long as they don't do anything horribly out of line, and the provinces get to set up their own systems.
- redthrowaway 13y ago
  Provinces have far less power than states do, at least on paper. The reason education and healthcare is run at the provincial level is because the federal government decided to do it that way as a cost-saving measure. If they decided to change it back, the provinces would just have to suck it up and go along for the ride. Just look at equalization payments for an indication of how little power provinces have.

einhverfr 13y ago

> And you rarely see libertarians here in Canada. I think that is because your provinces have actual positive jurisdictions of sovereignty, as opposed to the very weak protections our states have. > For all its warts, our government mostly works: healthcare is pretty good, education is pretty good, regulations are generally not onerous, taxes are pretty low, crime is pretty low, etc. For example, there is no "Canadian Health Care System." Rather there is some federal money that goes to provinces as long as they don't do anything horribly out of line, and the provinces get to set up their own systems.

redthrowaway 13y ago
Provinces have far less power than states do, at least on paper. The reason education and healthcare is run at the provincial level is because the federal government decided to do it that way as a cost-saving measure. If they decided to change it back, the provinces would just have to suck it up and go along for the ride. Just look at equalization payments for an indication of how little power provinces have.