it’s only because our government is so bloated that corporations are incentivized to do so.
Corporations are always incentivized to do so regardless of government size. If you’re a corporation and you have the power to get politicians to get a law passed, then the law gets passed even if the fed is tiny.
That’s the root of the problem you blame on corporations.
The root problem is lobbying (bribery) being legal. Without it we would be in a far better place.
Meanwhile, every leftist continues to push for a bigger and bigger government.
I think the issue of government size is more nuanced than that. There are things that republicans want that would make the government bigger, and there are things that democrats/leftists want that would make it smaller.
I’m not sure what the “world freedom index” is, but according to the 2023 Index of Economic Freedom, the US ranks 25 with the following advice:
There is definitely some regulation that needs to be abandoned, certain zoning laws immediately come to mind, but the largest reason why we have so little freedom here in comparison is because of government surveillance programs, corporate control, etc.
And ranking freedom solely on economic freedom is not a good methodology.
When I say “secularism”, I’m referring to the social trend of reduced church membership
I don’t want to make this a debate over definition, but that isn’t anywhere close to the definition of secularism:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secularism
and the growing trend of people to openly embrace atheism and agnosticism without a hint of shame. Every one of us is either with God or with Satan, and so by secularism I mean the trend of people abandoning God to embrace Satan.
Atheism and agnosticism is not something to be ashamed about. People should only believe things in which their is sufficient evidence for, and there is insufficient evidence for religion. And atheism is not an embrace of Satan, we atheists don’t believe in Satan either.
It has no basis in history, our culture, or reality, all of which are essentially Christian.
Christianity runs through every fiber of our being as a nation.
I’ll refer you to my other post that had quotes from the founding fathers explicitly stating that the U.S. was not founded as a christian nation.
…] that [all men] are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness
The delcaration of independence is not a legal document or part of american law. Only the constitution is the head of american law and it doesn’t say anything about a creator, chrisitianity, etc.
almost all of them include copious quotes from the Bible, which you probably don’t even recognize if you’re an atheist.
I’ve spent the better part of two decades debating with christians online in various forums, so I have read quite a lot of it at this point.
Reply to “regardless of government size”, part 2 of 2:
I don’t want to make this a debate over definition, but that isn’t anywhere close to the definition of secularism:
I was all ready to reply that the wiki article has been biased by secularists, but then I read it (well, I skimmed the beginning of it), and it seems largely agreeable, and supports my personal definition. The social trend of reduced church membership, and the growing trend of people to openly embrace atheism and agnosticism without a hint of shame, are both completely in line with people “seeking to conduct human affairs based on naturalistic considerations, uninvolved with religion.” The article also notes that:
The term “secularism” has a broad range of meanings, and in the most schematic, may encapsulate any stance that promotes the secular in any given context.
That’s awkward wording, but does indeed agree with my personal definition.
Atheism and agnosticism is not something to be ashamed about. People should only believe things in which their is sufficient evidence for, and there is insufficient evidence for religion. And atheism is not an embrace of Satan, we atheists don’t believe in Satan either.
I know you believe Satan doesn’t exist. You’re in complete denial of the massive influence he has over you.
You’re either with God or you’re against Him. That’s a really important concept that you seem to keep ignoring. When you reject God, you embrace Satan — even if you’re unaware that you’re doing so — and even if you think that’s impossible — that’s what you’re doing. And that most certainly is something to be ashamed about.
As for evidence, once you accept Christ, you will finally understand that abundant evidence is everywhere you look.
I’ll refer you to my other post that had quotes from the founding fathers explicitly stating that the U.S. was not founded as a christian nation.
…which I rebutted. I wonder if you’re missing some of my replies. (Edit: maybe I rebutted it after you wrote this.)
The delcaration of independence is not a legal document or part of american law.
It’s the primary document to establish our culture and our national identity. I can’t overemphasize that point. When was the last time you read it?
I’ve spent the better part of two decades debating with christians online in various forums, so I have read quite a lot of it at this point.
Do you suppose your motivation to do that was provided by God or Satan? (“Neither” would be an invalid answer.)
That’s awkward wording, but does indeed agree with my personal definition.
I don’t think they match, but again definitions aren’t really why I am here, so I will move on.
I know you believe Satan doesn’t exist. You’re in complete denial of the massive influence he has over you.
When you say “complete denial”, do you mean the kind of denial of that secretly knows some unfortunate truth, or literally denying? Because if it is the former you are mistaken.
That’s a really important concept that you seem to keep ignoring.
That’s because I don’t think it makes sense. I don’t believe in either of the sides you are talking about. So it’s kind of like asking “are you rooting for team A or team B”, but the sports teams* that you’re talking about are all fictional. It just doesn’t make sense for me to say I am on a sports team that I think is made up.
* I know they aren’t sports teams, but I couldn’t think of a better analogy.
When you reject God, you embrace Satan — even if you’re unaware that you’re doing so — and even if you think that’s impossible — that’s what you’re doing. And that most certainly is something to be ashamed about.
I’m embracing neither. I can’t embrace something I don’t believe in.
As for evidence, once you accept Christ, you will finally understand that abundant evidence is everywhere you look.
I know you don’t think I was ever a christian, but when I was, I thought I had abundant evidence. But the closer I looked at my reasons for believing the more I realized they weren’t good reasons.
It’s the primary document to establish our culture and our national identity.
I think trying to single out a single document that defines a 246 year old country is a mistake, because no such document could possibly define such a long and chaotic history/country.
I can’t overemphasize that point. When was the last time you read it?
This question is not relevant to the conversation, as it is just setting up for an ad hominem fallacy.
Do you suppose your motivation to do that was provided by God or Satan? (“Neither” would be an invalid answer.)
I’m sorry but the answer is “neither” whether you consider it valid or not. I am not a christian and therefore not bound to “christian logic” so to speak that would say that such a dichotomy is valid. My motivations are my own to the extent that an american can.
definitions aren’t really why I am here, so I will move on.
Definitions are so important! Oftentimes we talk past each other, thinking we’re arguing when we actually agree on 95% of the issue, but we’re using different working definitions of our words, and misinterpreting each other accordingly.
When you say “complete denial”, do you mean the kind of denial of that secretly knows some unfortunate truth, or literally denying?
I have no background in psychology, but I don’t think denial necessarily involves secret knowledge. I just went to research the topic, and quickly remembered that I dislike the entire field of psychology, so I didn’t get far. Sorry. But no, I don’t pretend to know what you really know and what you don’t. That’s between you and God, not me. I just think you’ve intentionally decided to refute God, and thereby unknowingly invited Satan to guide your thoughts.
I don’t believe in either of the sides you are talking about. So it’s kind of like asking “are you rooting for team A or team B”, but the sports teams* that you’re talking about are all fictional. It just doesn’t make sense for me to say I am on a sports team that I think is made up.
That’s a good analogy, and I understand your perspective. But the problem is that good and evil are entirely real, and it’s absurd to pretend they’re not. You’re ignoring the spiritual warfare that underlies everything happening in our world, in our lives, and indeed in this very conversation. You’re denying the foundational tenets of Western Civilization, based on millennia of correspondence with and guidance from the Lord our God. You arrogantly pretending you’re somehow smarter than our ancestors who built this civilization with God’s blessing, and what’s far worse is you’re arrogantly pretending you’re somehow smarter than God Almighty Himself. That’s why I say you’re in denial. God does not like to be denied. But the Devil does, and seizes upon that denial to manipulate you.
The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.
—Verbal Kint
I’m embracing neither. I can’t embrace something I don’t believe in.
But you can, and you do. When you deny God, you embrace Satan. There is no third option.
I know you don’t think I was ever a christian, but when I was, I thought I had abundant evidence. But the closer I looked at my reasons for believing the more I realized they weren’t good reasons.
I find that completely believable. You predicated your faith on faulty reasoning, and as a result, your faith was unstable. Solid faith cannot be predicated on reasons at all — that’s what makes it faith. But when your faith is solid, you’re then provided with the ability to see the abundant evidence for what it truly is. The key is that the evidence comes second, contingent on faith.
I think trying to single out a single document that defines a 246 year old country is a mistake, because no such document could possibly define such a long and chaotic history/country.
I’d say that’s reasonable if I wasn’t familiar with the US. But every child memorizes key lines from that single document, and learns all about how it made us the greatest country on earth. And every American refers back to it in common parlance, while discussing and debating a wide variety of issues. And that single document continues to influence all of our legislation and jurisprudence. So in the case of the US, that single document really does define our culture.
It’s worth noting, though, that you mention that we’re a 246 year old country, and it’s 247 (welcome to 2023!), but more importantly I’d say most of what happened during those intervening years are far less important than what happened at the outset. Even if our state and federal governments were to topple, and a foreign army was to invade, American flags would still fly because our national character was established at the outset of our founding, and it cannot be destroyed.
Out of curiosity, if it wouldn’t be invasive, which state are you in (or from, or most familiar with)?
Reply to “regardless of government size”, part 1 of 2:
Corporations are always incentivized to do so regardless of government size. If you’re a corporation and you have the power to get politicians to get a law passed, then the law gets passed even if the fed is tiny.
A couple of problems that make this incorrect:
- A nit-pick that I find distracting: The phrase “the Fed” always (at least in US context) refers to the Federal Reserve, a private bank in cahoots with the federal government. I know that’s not what you meant.
- I don’t think you realize just how tiny the federal government used to be. There were no taxes to fund anything, aside from nominal excise taxes on imports. There were no agencies, at all — none. That’s our natural federal government size. They barely had any power at all, because American government is meant to be bottom-up, with families and townships having the most power, and the federal government the least.
So no, corporations are not incentivized to lobby a tiny government which exists strictly to protect the people’s liberty, any more than they’re incentivized to lobby you and me personally.
The root problem is lobbying (bribery) being legal. Without it we would be in a far better place.
Except lobbying isn’t bribery. It’s just speech, similar to advertising. I can tell my senator how great the Fediverse is and how he should make an account here, and that would count as lobbying.
The root problem is that the federal government has amassed far too much power. And to break that down, there are mainly two parts to that root problem:
- The Interstate Commerce Clause
- The Necessary and Proper Clause
Both have been grossly misinterpreted in violation of the Tenth Amendment to give the federal government unrestricted control over the states. The solution is for SCOTUS to apply the doctrine of originalism to restore these two clauses to their intended meaning. If they have the cahoonas to do that, ~2.87 million federal civilian employees will suddenly be out of a job, and many of our lost freedoms will be restored overnight. Oh yeah, and the incentive to lobby will move to the state level, where governors and state legislatures actually have to worry about losing taxpayers over bad policies.
I think the issue of government size is more nuanced than that. There are things that republicans want that would make the government bigger, and there are things that democrats/leftists want that would make it smaller.
Sure, well both DNC and RNC are coalitions, and we don’t all agree on the details. But my view that the sole responsibility of the federal government is to protect the people’s liberty is a fairly generic Republican view. Border protection and national defense are the only expensive requirements of that.
There is definitely some regulation that needs to be abandoned, certain zoning laws immediately come to mind,
Agreed!
but the largest reason why we have so little freedom here in comparison is because of government surveillance programs,
Agreed!
corporate control
No!
And ranking freedom solely on economic freedom is not a good methodology.
Agreed!
I don’t think you realize just how tiny the federal government used to be.
It basically didn’t exist in the beginning, I am aware of how drastically things have changed.
That’s our natural federal government size.
When you say “natural” here I assume you mean that the country was intended to always have the same size of federal government (which is to say basically a size of nothing). However the founding fathers intended the country to always be changing and adapting, to always become better and better. I agree that the federal government needs to be smaller (for instance I would personally cut the IRS to a 10th it’s size, because that’s all they would really need if we switched to georgism). However, just because it needs to be smaller doesn’t mean it should barely exist. When our country was founded, it was done so with the Articles of Confederation, and it was a chaotic disaster.
So no, corporations are not incentivized to lobby a tiny government which exists strictly to protect the people’s liberty, any more than they’re incentivized to lobby you and me personally.
If the government is tiny, then corporations are unfettered, and that is just as bad. But even so, even with a small government, lobbying is still power that they would directly benefit from.
Except lobbying isn’t bribery. It’s just speech, similar to advertising.
If that’s all lobbying was, I would be inclined to agree with you, but that’s not all lobbying is. Paying for campaign contributions, promising contributions, etc are all also legal and considered lobbying. And it is effectively bribery. It’s also legal to offer politicians lucrative job opportunities. These things are corruption and destroy our freedoms.
The solution is for SCOTUS to apply the doctrine of originalism to restore these two clauses to their intended meaning.
I had to go back to keep track of what we agreed(?) was the problem, corporate control. You say it is the two above doctrines, I disagree, believing it is a multifaceted problem of lobbying, monopolies, laizze-faire policy, etc.
I simply don’t see how removing the government’s ability to regulate commerce would lead to less corporate control of america. Corporations would still control our wages, place of employement, type of employement, hours, how money is distributed, the media (narrative), etc. If anything it would make it harder for the government to prevent these corporations from harming our freedom.
However the founding fathers intended the country to always be changing and adapting, to always become better and better.
That’s progressive revisionism. They most certainly did not. If they were still around today, they’d be rallying the militia.
Articles of Confederation, and it was a chaotic disaster.
You say that like it’s a bad thing. In retrospect it’s clear that our situation then was far preferable to where we are today. The federal government’s only problem then was they couldn’t get the several states to give them any money, which is a perfectly acceptable problem. What’s more, the convention of the states had no authority to discard the Articles, so they remain our rightful federal law. I don’t deny the fact that the Constitution is well accepted by almost 100% of American citizens, but the least we can do is restore it to its original intent. If we ever do, though, then you’ll find me advocating to restore the Articles.
If the government is tiny, then corporations are unfettered, and that is just as bad. But even so, even with a small government, lobbying is still power that they would directly benefit from.
If government is tiny then businesses are tiny. You can lobby your governor just as you can lobby your next-door neighbor, and there’s nothing wrong with that. You can lobby me, just as you’re sorta doing now.
Paying for campaign contributions, promising contributions, etc are all also legal and considered lobbying. And it is effectively bribery. It’s also legal to offer politicians lucrative job opportunities. These things are corruption and destroy our freedoms.
This is a symptom of big government. When politicians have next to no power, there’s no sense in spending money to help them.
I had to go back to keep track of what we agreed(?) was the problem,
I concede I wish I was better at staying on track in this sort of enormous conversation.
I simply don’t see how removing the government’s ability to regulate commerce would lead to less corporate control of america.
Let’s distinguish between state and federal control. I believe it’s a sovereign state’s role to regulate commerce within their borders as they see fit. So business sizes should vary according to state culture.
Corporations would still control our wages
I’ve already addressed this. It’s false. When you sell your labor, you set the price you want to charge, and seek out one or more customers willing to pay that price. Corporations are nothing more than people who pay other people for their labor, as a voluntary agreement between both parties. Neither party controls the other.
place of employement, type of employement, hours, how money is distributed, the media (narrative), etc. If anything it would make it harder for the government to prevent these corporations from harming our freedom.
This is all radically disconnected from reality. Corporations don’t control any of these things. You really should start a business of your own, if for no other reason than just to learn how little power it gives you.
