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Originally Posted by Socks
Your position is that society only takes care of its people when it's forced to by its government, which I don't think is true at all. In my opinion older people are treated better by their families in poor countries, because not having a social net forces families to stay together and deal with their problems. Kids live at home longer. Parents stay married longer.
Without the government bloat, how many extra dollars would actually make it to the projects that do good? All government monies come from the people, and they've done a shit job of handling that money, in just about every country on earth, no matter what political party or type of government it is.
The only solution to that problem is to have a smaller government with less responsibilities.
The cost of government isn't just the income tax. It's the debt burden on all their purchases and programs. They have too many opportunities to put things on our tab.
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My position is that government is necessary to redress some of the inequities of the marketplace. I'm not going to advocate removing social safety nets on the off chance that people will somehow be more inclined to give to charity because we both know that that's a completely unrealistic view. I can't believe you're actually holding up third-world countries as an example of what we should aspire to be. That just further proves my point that libertarianism is a regressive form of government.
Like I said, selfishness lies at the core of the average libertarian's mindset. Some of them will try to quote some ivory tower intellectuals from the Ludwig Von Mises institute or Ayn Rand, pseudo-economists and a sociopathic author, the type of people that think every complex problem in the world can be broken down and solved in a two paragraph article. The type of people who seem to be completely disconnected from reality. All it is is a weak attempt to justify their own selfishness, IMO. Good thing it's only a fantasy that will never become a reality.
I agree that government can be trimmed down in certain areas, but here in The United States the so-called libertarian Republicans go after The Department of Education and the Enviromental Protection Agency, meanwhile you won't hear them say a word about the enormous military industrial complex. What kind of message is that to send? Basically what they're telling us is that bullets, bombs and guns are more important than children's education and the environment.