How does small government equal more freedom?

[Anonymous]

I feel like these libertarians saying "we need a small government" have no clue what they're talking about. Take any society in history as an example, most recently Japan. Before the emperor got his power around 1860, Japan was ruled by land owners. Most Japanese were forced to either be homeless or work on 1 acre of land their entire life, rarely if ever getting to leave it. Worst of all, they didn't get paid actual money. Literally every example of history shows that the smaller the central government, the LESS freedom people have.

It doesn't

Other

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You can't argue with me because I never tried to argue. The experiments have been done

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All you libertarians are like communists. Because every communist country on the planet has ultimately allowed the rich to exist, and a strong government to exist. Which go against communism. But somehow "communists" still exist? If something doesn't work in practice but a bunch of people still "believe it would work", you're just believing shit to make yourself feel good. Like Freud said, people have delusions to make reality bearable. But that's all they are. Delusions.

[genericname85]

well there is an argument to be made for small government. cause at the end of the day, you are not free. no point in fighting that idea. and at the end of the day what's the difference between oligarchs controlling the people directly without government or indirectly with a government as the middleman? well the difference is that the government is a super expensive institution that someone has to pay for. and that someone is usually the "not so free people".

democratic government only makes sense if you believe that your vote actually does somehting, which i don't. in my opinion, government primarily serves the function of giving the people the feeling that they are part of a fair system that they had a choice in, which is of course an absolute farce.

[Asker]

The government can regulate industries, impose import taxes, create laws, form a strong centralized military, etc. When countries have strengthened their government they've always experienced exponential growth. The soviet union's gdp grew at like 50% every year for decades, and even though it ultimately collapsed, it still transformed Russia into what it is. Same with China. Same with Germany post-Weimar republic. Same with America post-revolutionary war. Same with France post-revolutionary war. The stronger the government, the better.

[genericname85]

ok. with what you just said in mind. do you think that politicians make decisions based on what their voters would want? or do you think politicians make decisions based on which lobbyist gave their party more money?

[Asker]

Do you think things would be going any smoother if they did what trailer trash wanted

[genericname85]

do you realize that what you just said favors an aristocracy, not a democracy?

i personally do think democracy would be better. but we're not having that. we have an indirect oligarchy with democratically elected representants. cause these representants don't represent "the people". they represent their lobbyists. that's how it currently works and that's in my view just simply not democratic.

[genericname85]

the capital makes the laws. so guess who they will favor in the laws. exactly. themself, not the people.

[NamerOfStars]

The USSR. Nazi Germany. Weimar Germany. Imperial Japan. Fascist Italy. Tito's Yugoslavia. Massive governments, all of them. Horrific lack of freedom, all of them. And all at the same time.

You can reasonably discuss how a smaller government would make people more free, but asserting the reverse is true for no reason other than "take any society in history" is simply sticking your fingers and your ears and saying "Lalala, I can't hear you!".

[Asker]

Your definition of freedom is wrong. All of those movements you listed were to stop a foreign power from controlling their nation.

[NamerOfStars]

The USSR was to stop Russians from controlling their nation, the Nazis were stop other Germans, Weimar I'll give you, Imperial Japan arose because the Japanese wanted to control OTHER nations, Italy went fascist to rebuild Roman glory and control others, and Tito WAS a foreign power.

Do you have any FACTS to back your assertion up, or are you just relying on people not knowing things?

[Asker]

I honestly have no clue how you just argued that popular movements don't spring up out of resentment of a foreign power controlling the country in some shape or form. If there wasn't a threat, nations wouldn't exist to begin with. That's always the motive.

[Adaeva]

Only an indoctrinated fool would believe that ridiculous nonsense.

[Stacey55666]

Or vice versa.

[Astarlessnightsky]

Poeple who make this claim forget, if there is no government intervention, the freedom would be taken away by corporations or other wealthy minorities.

[Asker]

Aka Feudalism. 99% of people would be absolutely broke.

[genericname85]

other people would say the government is the tool for corporations and other wealthy minorities to govern the people under a veil of fake legitimacy.

[Jersey2]

Answering you in detail is a waste of time. You seem brainwashed. This country was successful for many many years with a small government. If you can’t see how a smaller government means more freedom then you are blind.

[Asker]

It was also the only country with 90% frontier to escape to

[gorydetails]

@Jersey2 He's a child. He had a couple of history classes and thinks he understands the world. Hence the update.

[Stacey55666]

The department of education is a perfect example of big government, and the education in this country sucks.

[Asker]

@Stacey55666 there's a difference between libertarianism and common sense. Public schools exist to give you the bare minimum of an education

[Asker]

@gorydetails I haven't based my opinions on a couple classes. I have a very broad overview in mind which is what you need anyway. Vs. Thinking with 1 example in mind like 'how it used to be'

[gorydetails]

@myownman2 if that were remotely the case, then you'd have historical knowledge of the repression of people by governments that is only relieved by restricting the actions of the government.

[Stacey55666]

Public schools should not exist. They're toxic crap.

[Asker]

@gorydetails that's like a doctor saying "oh yeah your immune system is weak. But some immune systems attack their host's body, so yeah, you're all good." A weak immune system is never good. A weak government is never good. There's a reason even America has developed one of the strongest governments in the world. If you didn't truly believe in a strong government you'd live in an African country undergoing civil war.

[Asker]

@Stacey55666 guess what. They didn't exist once upon a time and 90% of kids were illiterate and couldnt do multiplication.

[gorydetails]

@myownman2 So yeah. Dumb analogy. Yeah, the reason is because those in power always want to control and curtail freedom.

[Asker]

@gorydetails If you didn't have someone in power you would be invaded and have a foreign power in power. They're called leaders. If you can't be lead, you're either a criminal, you think you should be the leader, or you're insane.

[Snakeyes7]

Big government will always allow corruption to seep in. Keep it small and they will only do what the citizens want and will not act on their own interests without the citizens giving them something to fear them over.

[gorydetails]

Lol, you think a bunch of corrupt octogenarians are keeping you free? I've heard a lot of shilling for the state, but you are in simp mode.