In some recent threads, I've encountered the typical ideology that bigger government is always bad and that government is inherently intrusive and restrictive to freedom. I would not be much of a critical thinker if I did explore why, beyond simple value judgments, people have these feelings regarding the government. So a few questoins...
How much government is too much government?
First,
which government? A country's? My local Homeowner's Assocation? Any schmuck who tries to tell another schmuck what to do (or not do) and succeeds? It all depends. Personally, I know some HOA presidents who should not be entrusted with that much power.
Who should have the power? (the Constitution, the people, etc.)
Well, being American, "Of the People, For the People and By the People" makes a whole lot of sense to me. Government is just people, as are Big Business and Labor Unions and all that.
The problem is not the government, it is human nature blown up onto the large scale that is the problem.
^^^ yeah, what he said.^^^^
How does the government obtain its power?
... dusting off cobwebs from brain... hmmm. Historically speaking, there have been a lot of ways. Winning wars, beheading enemies, bloody coups, propaganda campaigns, and also (in addition to the above) getting people to go along with leaders voluntarily.
When does the government begin to infringe upon freedom?
I think that varies. Some people can't even stand stopping for a red light, other people seem content to let there be heavy restrictions on their behavior (I am thinking, for some reason, of Sharia law and strict religious communities.)
the government inherently grow bigger until it collapses?
I don't know, probably... Most giant governments seem to have done so, but then, things change.
Is all government inherently corrupt, or is some of it authentic?
No, no more than rules are mean and unnecessary. You can usually get a critical mass of people to agree on most rules, which is basically what government is about. I'm glad we have a reasonably good and non-corrupt police force and firefighters, for instance. Government is often called Public Service for a reason, it is because it should function to help its citizens. Miraculously, sometimes... it does.
Do you fear the government?
No, not really, because despite our problems, I think the US government is founded on pretty good principles and has checks and balances in place to discourage too much corruption. That said, I understand the threat of too much power in the wrong hands.
Why is big business less of a threat than government?
Did somebody say it was? There are some great or relatively harmless big businesses. But businesses are often very very powerful. Thing about business is, they don't want to kill off their customers or trading partners. They do have an inherent need (
usually, not always) to keep things nice and calm and prosperous.
Finally, how did you come to these conclusions?
I thunk about it for 5 minutes! LOL. And thought back on things I'd experienced firsthand, and learned in school and from reading things like, oh.... you know,
The Economist, and
National Geographic, and what was that one about the nasty meat processing plants? ew. And you know,
Lord of the Flies and the Constitution of the US and
1984 and stuff like that.