Originally Posted by Axiom
Ax wants a small ... but strong ... government upholding the principles of individual freedom and the responsibility which that entails.
1. I put to you that there cannot be any such organising system (government) that can be BOTH small and strong. There reason is that there is an optimised cost for an organising system. Spend too little and the system will be too small and begin to fail by not upholding its responsibilities. Spend to much and that which it is controlling will become anaemic.
This is true for all control systems - animal and its brain, internet data flow and its switching computer(s), society
and its government.
2. I don't know that you can codify those "responsibilities." because of the enormous range of perceived "responsibilities" that are politically incompatible with each other.
Restricted only to their core job of protecting from violence,theft and fraud (not a labrynth of police state law)
Violence, theft and fraud are interactions that occur at the person to person level. Such interacts are necessarsarily complicated. Therefore, codifying and enforcing those codes of behaviour will also be necessarily complicated. Perhaps you view "complicated" law as a "labyrinth." I do not as I view it as one of the costs of civilisation - a cost I am willing to pay.
So my ideal would be a small but strong libertarian govt .
Which i think would be the govt most would choose if they weren't so ill informed ...
If we choose (wished for) it, we should also wish for eternal life, world peace and happiness because all those wishes are unattainable as well. So, what to do? I suggest RELAX. We live long lives, experience low crime rates and are supplied with plenty of food. What else can you ask of government? Sure some things are imperfect, so, let's work on those. Let's repair and maintain the house rather than bulldoze it and HOPE that we have a good builder.