So, this is my stance on the size of the government etc:
-The vast majority of the economy should be private sector
-Healthcare and education should be provided by the government for everyone
-The government should own enough stuff to be able to provide housing and electricity to those living in poverty (while working to get them out of poverty)
-The government should be able to stop any business growing so large that it close-to or actually monopolises a section of the economy
-Further corporate regulation should occur (from the government) with regard to product safety, worker conditions and impact on the environment
My justification for the above stance is this:
The government is the organisation employed (effectively) by the people of a country to make their lives better. A big government, therefore, is not a threatening thing as long as it doesn't infringe on the rights of the individual. It should be bigger than any one corporation (though not necessarily the private sector as a whole), as the people in charge of the government are directly accountable to the entire population, and the people in charge of a corporation are not. The private sector delivers best when it comes to non-essential things/things which nearly everyone can afford, so it should be allowed to take the reins on most of the economy. But when it comes to things we regard as basic human rights, like education and healthcare, it needs to be delivered by the state, not private businesses. The state has the ability and motivation to provide equal education to all; a business, broadly speaking, will do whatever will get it the most profit.
A qualification/expansion:
When I say "as long as it doesn't infringe on the rights of the individual," I mean this wholeheartedly. The personal lives of every human being remain that, personal, and theirs to control. The government's power is only justified when preventing people from harming or subjugating other people; and I extent this to regulating corporations to ensure they aren't decreasing the quality of life of their employees, or destroying the natural environment. I do not believe the government should ever interfere with marriage, abortion, freedom of speech, non-harmful religious practices, etc.
A problem with this which needs to be resolved:
The government we have now (I'm talking about Britain, but it applies to plenty of other countries as well) does not fit my description of it particularly well any more. Increasingly, we are losing our ability to hold the government to account. Trade unions and the City of London are getting far too involved; and MPs and whole governments are getting in with not enough people voting for them to justify it. We need to stop this. We need to limit the budgets of political parties, to shove the unions and the business sector as out of the picture as we can, and switch to a proportional system of voting, so that each government is truly the one we choose.
That's about all. I should probably just have titled this post "I'm a Leftie-Liberal-Face, this is why, LOL." But hey.
-The vast majority of the economy should be private sector
-Healthcare and education should be provided by the government for everyone
-The government should own enough stuff to be able to provide housing and electricity to those living in poverty (while working to get them out of poverty)
-The government should be able to stop any business growing so large that it close-to or actually monopolises a section of the economy
-Further corporate regulation should occur (from the government) with regard to product safety, worker conditions and impact on the environment
My justification for the above stance is this:
The government is the organisation employed (effectively) by the people of a country to make their lives better. A big government, therefore, is not a threatening thing as long as it doesn't infringe on the rights of the individual. It should be bigger than any one corporation (though not necessarily the private sector as a whole), as the people in charge of the government are directly accountable to the entire population, and the people in charge of a corporation are not. The private sector delivers best when it comes to non-essential things/things which nearly everyone can afford, so it should be allowed to take the reins on most of the economy. But when it comes to things we regard as basic human rights, like education and healthcare, it needs to be delivered by the state, not private businesses. The state has the ability and motivation to provide equal education to all; a business, broadly speaking, will do whatever will get it the most profit.
A qualification/expansion:
When I say "as long as it doesn't infringe on the rights of the individual," I mean this wholeheartedly. The personal lives of every human being remain that, personal, and theirs to control. The government's power is only justified when preventing people from harming or subjugating other people; and I extent this to regulating corporations to ensure they aren't decreasing the quality of life of their employees, or destroying the natural environment. I do not believe the government should ever interfere with marriage, abortion, freedom of speech, non-harmful religious practices, etc.
A problem with this which needs to be resolved:
The government we have now (I'm talking about Britain, but it applies to plenty of other countries as well) does not fit my description of it particularly well any more. Increasingly, we are losing our ability to hold the government to account. Trade unions and the City of London are getting far too involved; and MPs and whole governments are getting in with not enough people voting for them to justify it. We need to stop this. We need to limit the budgets of political parties, to shove the unions and the business sector as out of the picture as we can, and switch to a proportional system of voting, so that each government is truly the one we choose.
That's about all. I should probably just have titled this post "I'm a Leftie-Liberal-Face, this is why, LOL." But hey.
When government does more to show itself to be a servant to their electorate (from the most vulnerable up), the more confidence we can have in big government politics.
ReplyDeleteWell said Ben! (as usual) :)
ReplyDelete