One more thing. Most of government is just administration and many people do just that in their everyday lives. People move between government and the private sector all the time. There's nothing magical about government. It's just work. And ordinary people know a lot about work. There is, of course, the policy making aspect of government, deciding how we want to live together. But that's just the part that shouldn't be left to elites. That's the part that ought to be left to the citizens.
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19 Jun 2012 10:24AM
But as long as there is the temptation of power, there will be people who take it. So how then do you eliminate that temptation thus allowing people to remain selfless in governing?
Basicaly all that is needed is the ending of all big money in govt. Meaning all private donations beyond $200. A public tax could pay for the entire election if done right. Just $3 a month per house/apartment. Meaning one dollar for left/center/right. That would end all big money in govt.
The self-govt you speak of is still a type of representitive govt. Not just people making and controling the laws themselves. Even then, wouldn't that just be the community controling the local actions? Thus then being Communism?
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19 Jun 2012 2:48PM
You can never eliminate the temptation. When power is concentrated in individuals and small groups of individuals, not only is the temptation there, but the means of satisfying it by grabbing the concentrated power is there also. When power is diffused through the citizenry, the temptation to rule one's fellow citizens will still be there, but the means of satisfying the temptation will be removed. I'm by no means speaking of representative government. That merely concentrates power in individuals and small groups such as we have now in most Western countries. I'm speaking of direct democracy: poeple making and executing the laws themselves. There's surely no direct democracy without economic democracy. There's no real democracy of any kind without economic democracy. The sort of faux-democracy that we have now is really oligarchy. The sort of economic democracy I'm talking about could just as well be called a real free-market economy as well as communism.
So far as ending the role of money in politics, we've seen how that works out. The people who have the money just don't allow that to happen. Even if that sort of law gets passed, the wealthy have the money to buy the lawyers to find ways around the law. Whatever you try, the money will get to the politicians. The only way around it is to eliminate the politicians.
