NeoGuin wrote:Sounds good, but "Reducing Government" seems now to mean "Comforting the comfortable and afflicting the afflicted".
What needs to happen is that the real power brokers (Corporations) need to be made accountable by the PEOPLE!
Corporation are made of the PEOPLE.
Until such time as true AI is developed, a Corporation cannot exist without people.
Led and fed by venal people, a Corporation will operate in a venal manner. Led and fed by ethical people, a Corporation will operate in an ethical manner. Surely you don't mean to suggest that all corporations are venal.
There is no question that the executive management of a corporation charts the course followed by the company, but it is ignorant to assume or contend that these people, alone, are responsible for corporate malfeasance. In every rotten apple corporation, there are legions of PEOPLE through the corporate ranks who are:
1) More than willing to turn a blind eye to corruption if it means their personal profit or security.
2) More than willing to adopt the corrupt practices if it means it will assist them in achieving their personal goals of power and wealth.
3) Perfectly happy performing in a mediocre, or worse, fashion if a poorly run company is too dysfunctional to either locate them or demand that they produce.
For every Ken Lay and Bernard Ebbers, there are thousands of PEOPLE who would happily follow in their footsteps.
This notion that there is some pure and noble group out there called THE PEOPLE, who would tear down all Corporations if only they had the POWER, is ridiculous.
Better to focus on why some people (no matter what their vocation or status) crave power and are willing to hurt other people to get it.
Nobility is not a certain by-product of affliction, any more than corruption is the certain result of wealth and influence.
I am also puzzled by the sort of sentiment which seems to be expressed herein by NeoGuin:
We need to make the comfortable uncomfortable so that we can make the uncomfortable comfortable.
Seems like a vicious cycle to me.