Is democracy always better than a dictatorship?

[Aloone_Jonez]

The question is: what is a good government?

Surely the best government would manage resources and the economy efficiently and legislate in the best interests of the citizens. Whilst it's good if the government respects and doesn't repress the people too much, surely running the country well is also important?

[kintaro]

To me a good Government is one that remains within its bounds. Governments have to execute power by the use of force in some form or another. The Government should be restricted to protecting its citizens rights via a court system that can overrule any democratic body through a Bill of Rights. I think this is obvious to anyone, that we need a self-limiting Government, even socialists realize this.

Yet what is the nature of a Mans rights? I prefer to think that the nature of mans rights has to be derived from reality. As human beings we are born only with volitional consciousness - to live we have to act. To survive we must act as individuals and this is something with which we are born equally - we all have this ability to act except in the rare case of a birth defect or whatnot. Yet, even a mentally challenged individual has and requires the ability to act and to think freely to attain happiness.

To act individuals need to be free from the interference of other individuals and this requires objective law and police. This also requires some form of taxes. My preferred taxation would be to treat civil law and contracts as a service requiring a fee of the individuals using it to uphold agreements in advance of dispute. Also, land taxes to protect the general population. Not paying taxes for that technically puts others at risk – so as such if the money is used honestly to fund basic policing and the military it isn’t a violation of rights but the cost of having them at all.

Also to act individuals require property rights for the obvious reason that for a person to act in the physical world they need tools and other material possessions. Without property rights a man is not free to act at all as his hands are forbidden to hold anything without permission – and any system that requires that form of permission essentially makes property of people. A system focused to the needs of a human being is one that allows an individual to gain a value through trade and keep it. We are all born with a value and that is our minds, our arms, and our legs.

The only thing socialism does is divert the effort of millions of individuals through a central body with a far more limited span of intelligence and a far slimmer view of the citizens. This is why central planners are blind and the basis of the socialist calculation problem. Whenever the Government acts it is at the expense of the people so when socialists try to reallocate wealth it diverts individuals into being taxmen rather than accountants, social workers instead of psychologists, and so on. Anyone who thinks that socialism can work is avoiding the fact that it all operates on brute force. Oh the irony when the left bitch about the Iraq War.

As Ayn Rand so eloquently and simply put it: ‘Foggy metaphors, sloppy images, unfocused poetry, and equivocations—such as “A hungry man is not free”—do not alter the fact that only political power is the power of physical coercion.’


This turned out so well I've decided to blog it.

[Aloone_Jonez]

Come to think of it, I think our government is pretty good, even though it does get a lot of criticism. There are plenty of countries with far greater resources, yet the people aren't anywhere near as wealthy and suffer much greater deal of repression. I'd also say the same for Australia, the US, Canada etc.China also has a world class government, although obviously the criticism of human their rights abuses is perfectly valid.

[kintaro]

I think the best Government in the world and one of the finest constitutions is Panama. Australia, Canada, US, and England are on the same level politically as countries like Venezuela in respect to human rights. In fact, any country with a central bank is without a currency based on real assets and the people are vulnerable to being robbed of purchasing power. The countries you mention are only advanced because of technology and not political freedom. We live in fascist states, and the technology makes it easier for them than other Governments. Other fascist/statist/communist states like North Korea are simply more inefficenient in ruling. We are only as free as our petrol prices are low, we are only as free as we are unseen by law enforcement. The only lack of obstruction in life is that technology gives us as much as an advantage as Government. They can chase me with flashing lights, and I can keep running.

This is the kind of fascism we all live with: http://www.naturalnews.com/029286_rainwater_collection_water.html