Democracy Sucks

Does anybody give extra money to the government?

As proof of the idea that government is not a ‘good/service’, but rather a ‘bad/disservice’, show me somebody who has given money to the government so that they can “lend a hand to the poor people” for example. Note here that when I say “give”, I’m excluding taxation, since that is not voluntary.

Seriously, nobody in their right mind would ever give extra money to the government to help poor people, they’d give it to an actual charity.  So even in a small way, I feel that most people realise how useless governments are. If you want something done, you’d best not leave it in the hands of government.

April 2, 2008 - Posted by Stephan | anarchy, politics | | 2 Comments

2 Comments »

  1. Does the fact that people don’t give voluntarily give money to the government really categorize it as a “bad/disservice”?

    I have two points of contention:

    First, government funds have a wide uses. If one intends to help the poor as you say, there are organizations that specifically address those concerns. The government, on the other hand, has many focuses including education, defense, and infrastructure. Giving money to organizations is the only way to focus your contribution on a specific cause or causes.

    Secondly, does the fact that there are better services where people choose to put their money really signify that the government is bad? Your argument presents a false dichotomy that there is only good and bad, but there could also be good and better.

    To focus one’s financial contribution to a specific cause, there are specialized organizations to which one can give.

    The difficulties with giving to the government, on the other hand, is that as citizens, we have limited control to say how our money is spent, but this is separate from the point of whether or not the government is a categorical disservice.

    Comment by James | April 2, 2008 | Reply

  2. Hi James

    1. The very fact that in the free market, you are completely allowed to devote your attention/money towards a specific cause is yet another advantage of the voluntary exchange system. So the fact that “the government has to split its attention between things” cannot be claimed as some kind of advantage or excuse for the fact that people prefer to give their money to private organisations which have a higher likelihood of actually doing their job well.

    2. Even if it were the case that we’re talking about “good and better”, I’m happy with private services being “better”.

    But still, the fact that we have limited/no control over how money is spent is a bad thing, and if the government takes your money to pay for a service you find immoral/bad idea, then clearly thats a disservice right? You wouldn’t have otherwise paid for that service. I wouldn’t have otherwise paid for an Iraq War, the government just violently took our money for it. So I consider the government a bad/disservice.

    Comment by Stephan | April 3, 2008 | Reply


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