Do you genuinely believe that government as a whole actually cares about your best interest?

3 years ago by mobley to c/asklemmy

fubo 80 points 3 years ago

I don't think a government can "care". A government is not a person. It doesn't have a brain, thoughts, beliefs, or feelings. It has processes, laws, institutions, etc. which are all run by people.

I do think that most people who get involved in government are interested in making things better in their city, state, nation, etc.

However, their idea of "better" and mine might not agree: we might have different values.

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dan1101 11 points 3 years ago

Agreed except I'm not sure about "most. Maybe some.

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peter 3 points 3 years ago

I think not many lower level, a lot of the mid level then less of the high level officials care

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ChaoticEntropy 7 points 3 years ago

I feel like, at the point at which becoming a politician became a dedicated career, things have taken a bit of a nosedive. You can go from school to retirement whilst only ever experiencing political jobs and nothing else that would inform your politics.

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PeepinGoodArgs 4 points 3 years ago
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warhammercasey 3 points 3 years ago

I would argue many people are initially interested in making things better, it’s just that power and lobbying have a tendency to corrupt people

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davidauz 20 points 3 years ago

As an Italian, I can assure you that the structure of our government is good, the Constitution is top-notch, and the whole system is a masterpiece of art.

Unfortunately, the entire thing is plagued by politicians, so it is falling apart.

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PM_ME_VINTAGE_30S -6 points 3 years ago

Unfortunately, the entire thing is plagued by politicians, so it is falling apart.

Then the structure of your government is trash.

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Crackhappy 6 points 3 years ago

Whoooosh

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davidauz 3 points 3 years ago

Of course it may be, but after studying other types of government I am still convinced that ours is quite good. My point is that no matter how good a government is, at the end of the day it is run by people, and people are not perfect.

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smstnitc 2 points 3 years ago

People are not perfect suck

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Kolanaki 18 points 3 years ago

Hell no. There are some within it that do, but they don't get any real power. The ones who crave power get power.

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Machefi 14 points 3 years ago
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PM_ME_VINTAGE_30S 10 points 3 years ago

No lol

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luthis 10 points 3 years ago

That's hilarious! I'll do one!

Do you think they're actually sorry when you're on hold and the voice says 'we're sorry for the delay, a customer service rep will be with you shortly'?

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palindrome 10 points 3 years ago

No, our government only cares about profiting off the expense of other people and shilling out to corporations.

-Good ole US of A

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rm_dash_r_star 10 points 3 years ago

USA...government only cares about protecting corporate interests. Public safety and welfare is only considered when it can be used as a smokescreen to further corporate agenda. That's what I think and you won't talk me out of it.

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Duchess 9 points 3 years ago

England, absolutely not. those tory motherfuckers would kill me to make a profit and that's barely an exaggeration

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appel 2 points 3 years ago

Agreed

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001100010010 8 points 3 years ago
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simple 8 points 3 years ago

Literally nobody has ever said this lol

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dudeami0 6 points 3 years ago

Haven't talked to many billionaires then, they love how the government helps them.

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AdaShovelace 8 points 3 years ago

I'm transgender, so, that would be a no from me

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Max_P 7 points 3 years ago

It depends a lot which country, and who's elected, and what the voter base is demanding.

I can personally compare Québec, Canada vs Denver, USA.

The US government, I feel like it truely doesn't give a shit about individual people. Only profits and corporations. Québec has a ton of social programs, they kinda suck out of massive incompetence, but they do exist. You're not gonna get sick and go bankrupt and then homeless. Unemployment is much more accessible. There's always welfare to back you up if you end up in deep shit, it's tight but it'll feed you, sort of. I feel like the Canadian government generally tries to fight for the people, some would say at the cost of the economy, whatever, we're alive and fine.

I don't exactly feel like my taxes are used well especially at the 52% bracket, but I do feel like I get some out of it, whereas in the US you just kinda have to pay 12 different for profit companies to get anything.

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lvxferre 6 points 3 years ago

A government/country is an "it", an abstract entity; it is not a living human being, and cannot "care" about anything.

People working in that government care may or may not care about you, enough to change the behaviour of that government in a way that benefits you. But odds are that they don't.

And, just in case that the government in question is the one I pay taxes to (Brazil): the people in said government care about you as much as they care about a milking cow in a battery farm.

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collegefurtrader 5 points 3 years ago

Absolutely not

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mattreb 4 points 3 years ago

Government care that you are in the condition to pay as much taxes as possible. Which honestly is not bad, considering how selfish humans are...

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Reddit_was_fun 3 points 3 years ago

You ad an individual no. You as a collective yes. What is good for the collective (society) may be individually good for you.

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EnmaAi22 3 points 3 years ago

No. They care about their interests. Hence I'm anti government

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toomanypancakes 3 points 3 years ago

As a whole? No. Individuals within the government interacting with me? 40/60 chance against.

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stonedemoman 2 points 3 years ago

Congress has proven to me over and over again that they don't, it's not about what I believe anymore.

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intensely_human 2 points 3 years ago

As a whole? Maybe. As individuals, I think some do and some don’t. As a whole, I think the government is designed in a way that responds to my interests, which is about as close to “caring” that a non-sentient system can get.

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emptyother 2 points 3 years ago

Smaller govts, like here in Norway, is just people doing what they can and has been educated to do. This faceless govt that a lot of people are describing, I cant imagine it here. It is built of people anyone can talk to. So yes, the government and the system cares about us as a whole. Not for me personally, though. Common good.

Some politicians and govt workers are completely self-serving, of course, even here.

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animist 2 points 3 years ago

"Governments are just bodies of people, usually notably ungoverned."

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kool_newt 1 point 3 years ago

As another commenter mentioned, the government (the state) is not a person and cannot care.

Government and the state are tools. The thing about some tools is that they are really only useful towards certain ends. The state is fundamentally a tool of maintaining and expanding power. While it's possible for those with power to do some good things, their overall effect is to allow the domination of most by the few.

Government requires a state to function, a state as in a subset of the population claiming exclusive acceptable use of force in a given area.

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cyberthrunter 1 point 3 years ago

I think most of the elected officials care to some degree, they just aren’t good at correctly choosing reliable sources of determining what is actually in the best interest of the people.

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killeik 0 points 3 years ago

The government is only as interested as I personally can influence the government. Almost not at all, but if they do something absolutely harmful to everyone, the government will have to listen to the people.

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timeisart -2 points 3 years ago

Sorry yall downvote away but I gotta bring up covid in this context. oh yeah sure, after decades of not giving two shits about us suddenly the government is concerned for our health and safety? No one else found that to be immediately sus as hell?

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Oneser 11 points 3 years ago

COVID politics was a shitshow because of the noisy information being used to make "informed" decisions. No democratic politician has it in their interest to drive their local economy into the ground, as it is political suicide (as we see across Europe now).

They never cared about YOUR health, they cared about not losing a generation worth of useful working bodies.

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