daniel Posted December 13, 2006 Report Share Posted December 13, 2006 Governement, as measured by expenditure and legislation, has grown greatly over the past hundred years in a great number of countries. What explains this? Self serving pen pushers? Lobbyists? Rising wealth? Public demand? War? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strangelove Posted December 13, 2006 Report Share Posted December 13, 2006 The ability to tax before you get your paycheck (A World War Two era invention) did have something to do with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aequalsa Posted December 13, 2006 Report Share Posted December 13, 2006 The ability to tax before you get your paycheck (A World War Two era invention) did have something to do with it. That and the income tax in general. Also, federal control of the banking and monetary system. This allows deficit as well as the ability to pay the interest with the income tax. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
y_feldblum Posted December 13, 2006 Report Share Posted December 13, 2006 With only an American sense of life to go on, but not an explicit American philosophy, the people of this country are at the mercy of whoever can disguise an anti-American philosophy in an American sense of life. The nature and size of a country's government depends on the philosophy governing the country. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott_Connery Posted December 13, 2006 Report Share Posted December 13, 2006 I think the ultimate answer is that a majoirty of the population wants government to grow. They may not want it to grow in all areas, but most everyone has an area where they wish it would. Even the people that say they want smaller government are often reluctant to actually name specific programs or agencies (of any significant size) to be cut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkWaters Posted December 13, 2006 Report Share Posted December 13, 2006 I think the ultimate answer is that a majoirty of the population wants government to grow. They may not want it to grow in all areas, but most everyone has an area where they wish it would. Even the people that say they want smaller government are often reluctant to actually name specific programs or agencies (of any significant size) to be cut. Many individuals are actually even more extreme than this. Many perceive that our country and its residents will be inundated by utter disaster if we do not grow our government. This underlies much of the debates over Social Security, Healthcare, Education, Technology and the like. Both Republicans and Democrats argue over how to expand the government. To do anything less is essentially political suicide in the present political setting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidV Posted December 13, 2006 Report Share Posted December 13, 2006 (edited) Government, as measured by expenditure and legislation, has grown greatly over the past hundred years in a great number of countries. What explains this? This question can be analyzed from two perspectives: First, given the dominant philosophy of this country, what kind of social system will we set up? Second, given our social system, what kind of behavior does it encourage? The dominant philosophy of this country is altruism-collectivism. This philosophy has gradually crushed our egoist-individualist roots, and changed America from a laizzes-faire republic to a welfare-democracy. (For the reasons for this, read the Ominous Parallels.) The dominant features of a democracy is a political elite that is beholden to the electorate, and a lack of a constitutional restraints (one leads to the other). The need to win elections creates the incentive to redistribute wealth and power in exchange for votes, and ultimately, an escalating state of civil war, which uses elections to rob and pillage various constituencies. Self serving pen pushers? Lobbyists? Rising wealth? Public demand? War? Except for rising wealth, all these factors are important aspects of democratic government. Democracies create and feed off the bureaucracies beholden to constituent interests, and welfare-warfare is their most powerful means of growth. Rising wealth simply increases the stockpile of loot that can be redistributed. Edited December 13, 2006 by GreedyCapitalist Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aleph_0 Posted May 29, 2007 Report Share Posted May 29, 2007 This reminds me of one of Aesop's fables: A quarrel had arisen between the Horse and the Stag, so the Horse came to a Hunter to ask his help to take revenge on the Stag. The Hunter agreed, but said: "If you desire to conquer the Stag, you must permit me to place this piece of iron between your jaws, so that I may guide you with these reins, and allow this saddle to be placed upon your back so that I may keep steady upon you as we follow after the enemy." The Horse agreed to the conditions, and the Hunter soon saddled and bridled him. Then with the aid of the Hunter the Horse soon overcame the Stag, and said to the Hunter: "Now, get off, and remove those things from my mouth and back." "Not so fast, friend," said the Hunter. "I have now got you under bit and spur, and prefer to keep you as you are at present." If you allow men to use you for your own purposes, they will use you for theirs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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