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> The duty and role of a government is to act in the best interest of their citizens which that government represents. According to who? I understand that thi
by kaens 6y ago
> The duty and role of a government is to act in the best interest of their citizens which that government represents.
According to who? I understand that this is a kind of framing used here often, but the federal government has been concerned primarily with itself for a long time now at least to my eyes.
- _jgdh 6y agoAccording to ground realities. In a well functioning representative democracy, voters will kick out politicians/administrations that don’t represent their interests well. So if you want to be the one politician that values non-citizens’ rights over citizens’ rights, good luck getting re-elected. Or you could set up an autocracy and try to manage this anyway. For further reading, I recommend the book The Dictator’s Handbook or CGP Greg’s 20 minute summary of it.
- kaens 6y agoground realities are that, for example, flint michigan barely has clean water after seven years. if you are claiming the usa is not a well functioning representative democracy, i agree.
- bumby 6y ago>if you are claiming the usa is not a well functioning representative democracy, i agree. A claim on the intent of a government can be made without making a claim whether that intent is being fulfilled
- kaens 6y agoright, that's why i put "if" there :P
- marcusverus 6y agoObviously the Flint water crisis is a tragedy and an embarrassment, and I can understand how the issue might cause you to question the competence of the local leadership, but in what way is it an indictment of the functionality of America's representative democracy?
- rweir 6y agouh because presumably if you ask people if they want safe water, they say yes, and yet ... if Flint isn't an indictment of US democracy, what would be?
- IgorPartola 6y agoSanctioned government violence against its citizens by the police comes to mind. Weak environmental policies that are leading to things like wildfires on the west coast. The president* making his Dex fueled escape from Walter Reed and immediately taking off his mask telling people to not worry about COVID. The same president* profiteering off the presidency and 40% of the country unquestioningly supporting it. The same 40% refusing to wear masks in public because somehow being a spoiled brat is patriotic. This is what I imagine the Roman Empire felt like right before it collapsed on itself. The US has grown too big and too spoiled and is ripping at the seams.
- ojbyrne 6y ago40% is a high estimate. Because voter turnout in 2016 was about 60%, only 27% of eligible voters voted for Trump. And probably a significant portion of those are not unquestioning supporters.
- IgorPartola 6y agoHis approval has been well tracked by polls that target both likely voters and registered voters with the same 40% +/- 4% result.
- spfzero 6y agoCan you give me an example of the kind of “weak environmental policy” you are talking about? One which would lead to more wildfires on the west coast? Because the only policy I know of that leads to more wildfires, is the 20th century mistake of putting them out, which led to runaway undergrowth leading to hotter fires, such that trees were destroyed that would normally survive. The policy that best protects the environment long term is to let the fires burn. So again, what is the strong environmental policy you are envisioning that would prevent wildfires?
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- JanisL 6y agoImagine that you are a politician in that area and you have a crisis with the water supply, you aren't going to win votes by promising to first fix the water supply problems somewhere else that's not in your electorate. Even if things are broken there's always pressure to campaign on addressing local needs first in order to get (re)elected, hence the phrase "all politics is local".
- squidlogic 6y agoThat's a pretty basic tenant of democracy. The government is by the people and for the people.
- PeterisP 6y agoThe duty and role of a government is to act in the best interest of their citizens even if a particular government fails at this duty. When a government does not properly fulfil their role, that is the direction towards which we push them, to better represent the interest, desires and choices of their citizens - not to act for the benefit of everyone else in the world.