👈🏼 Back ｡･::･ﾟ★,｡･::･ﾟ🎇･::･｡,★ﾟ･::･｡ Forward 👉🏼
“I hope we once again have reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There's a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: as government expands, liberty contracts.”
History always stands in judgment but Reagan was more of a Republican than many politicians today who wants government to regulate everything except taxes.
Comment has been collapsed.
wow, didn't liked that much Reagan, but this quote is great.
Comment has been collapsed.
looks at giveaway game title
... :D
Comment has been collapsed.
I strongly disagree with Reagan on this. A certain amount of government is required for liberty to flourish. Unbridled capitalism is much closer to feudalism, in that the deeper pocket usually wins.
AKA why economic mobility is lower in America than in the rest of the developed world
Comment has been collapsed.
We could definitely have a conversation about what amount of government is necessary to protect liberty. I am in agreement with Lord Acton who said
"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."
Few men are immune to the influences of power. Even if they resist it, new powers given to a position or branch will inevitably be misused down the line by their successors. One example is the executive power of the president. Over the years, the executive order has become stronger and stronger and now it is being misused in ways our predecessors would be appalled at.
As for capitalism, I think the main problem in America is with crony capitalism. Corporations pay massive amounts lobbying and donating to political campaigns, and get special protections outside the free market in return. A good example of this is the telecomms industry, where new companies are barred from competition by laws that create an artificial monopoly.
Comment has been collapsed.
I agree with most of what you said. But, without a strong regulator, there's nothing to prevent abuses by those with money.
As you brought up the telecom industry, I'll use that as an example, and bring in the need for net neutrality.
There are very limited options for purchasing internet access, many people are limited to only 1 or 2 providers, and even in places with greater competition, there's still only a handful of options. If an ISP wants to create a competing service to e.g. netflix, all they need to do is disrupt service to netflix - charge netflix more than other companies for through traffic, throttle their speeds, etc. When the customer has to pay more for netflix than for the ISP's competing service, and netflix has performance issues (caused by the ISP) when the ISP's competing service doesn't, customers will switch. Then, when netflix is out of business, the ISP can raise prices. (Note: this is why Verizon bought Yahoo, why AT&T bought TimeWarner, and why ComCast tried buying Fox and is now trying to buy lionsgate)
A related example is the banking industry. The large banks take advantage of their customers all the time, from opening fraudulent accounts (wells fargo), to generating fees by advising clients to act against their self-interest (again, wells fargo), to downright lying to investors (goldman sachs), or trading ahead of customer's orders (citibank). Without laws in place to counter such actions, and without a strong regulator to enforce those laws, the big banks will fleece their customers more than they do already.
Another example is the monopoly practices of the late 1800s. Standard Oil was the largest oil company in the world. If a new producer started to service an area in which they operated, they would offer to buy the owner out at a (significantly) below market price. If the producer refused, Standard Oil would lower their prices significantly, taking a loss, until the competition went bankrupt. Then they'd jack up their prices.
On a more every-day level, I certainly hope we can agree that a government-run police force is necessary - if it were private, only those who could afford to pay could get justice, and therefore those who couldn't pay wouldn't ahve the same liberty
Comment has been collapsed.
I've lived in one of the most libertarian states in the U.S.A., Nevada. Effectively corporations ARE the government there. They do their best to buy all the power they can, and they use said power to regulate business to suit THEIR needs.
Contrary to popular opinion, prostitution is not legal in Las Vegas. It's actually allowed to be legal in counties with populations lower than 150,000. Entirely by coincidence, this is just lower than the population of Washoe County at the time the law was passed. Washoe is home to Reno, which along with Las Vegas' Clark County are prevented from potentially legalizing brothels. Because that'd be bad for the gaming industry's corporate convention business.
Comment has been collapsed.
Thank you for the game :)
Comment has been collapsed.