On 3/12/06, Jeff Kinz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> You do realize that "the government" and "us" are one and the same, yes? > > Ben there is some overlap, but they are most definitively not the same.
So what the distinguishing characteristics between you and (presumably) me, and members of "the government"? If my assumption that I am currently included in the "us" is correct, suppose I run for and win an office. Do I stop being "us" then? What if I just run and lose? What if I just write a letter that influences a congressman? Where do you draw the line? > It would be nice if it were true, but if that were the case, why did the > government put itself in internment camps during WWII? You're drawing the lines at the wrong places. The "government" didn't do that to "itself"; people did it to other people.You speak as if "the government" was a separate species, or have some kind of disease. All jokes aside, people are people. There are good people. There are evil people. There are dumb people. There are people who think differently than I. There are people I disagree with, and those who agree with me. There are people out for money, or power, or fame. There are people who think they know better than others (perhaps everyone falls into this category). There are people who think they are doing right, but others think they are wrong. I have yet to see any evidence that "the government" does things that "regular" people don't do to each other every day. (This is not an endorsement.) I most especially don't believe that there is this mystical force of "government" to which we can ascribe all the evil and injustice in this world. You're only fooling yourself if you believe that. It's much closer than that; the problem is ourselves. I don't hold an illusions that the people who are "the government" are any better then other people, but nor do I believe they are somehow tainted. Failures in government occur not because government is inherently flawed, but because people are. As long as the human creature continues to be imperfect, so will all our endeavors, government not least among them. I don't hold any hopes for things improving in that sense -- I fully expect people, myself most certainly included, to continue to be imperfect. Some more then others, yes. All we can do is strive to make it so that, at the end of the day, the good things people have done outnumber the bad. Maintaining this delusion that "they" are somehow inherently different from "us" only creates further resistance, strife, and entropy. I find this behavior especially egregious because the same thing happens the other way. When those in government start to believe "they" are *not* the same as "us", the time is especially ripe for abuses of power, for lack of understanding, for bad deeds to be done in the name of good. By perpetuating that way of thinking in "us", you enable it for "them". Needless to say, I don't agree. -- Ben Scott _______________________________________________ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
