What are the responsibilities of an Objectivist government?

Posted by rlewellen 10 years, 3 months ago to Government
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I have listened to everything thing from businesses should pay no taxes to America is not a sovereign country and there should be no regulations on anything. Certainly the government has some responsibilities.


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  • Posted by teri-amborn 10 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Yes. The emotion isn't really the problem ... acting on it is! However, envy is the initial problem. If you don't spend any time comparing yourself to others, you won't have the problem of hatred and strife.
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  • Posted by teri-amborn 10 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I've worked in places that have mandatory safety training so that you can avoid injury and learn from another's mistakes. Yes, I think that would be a remarkable improvement as long as a person possesses common sense and isn't self-destructive your suggestion would probably work well.
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  • Posted by $ blarman 10 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Government Services. The primary responsibilities of the Federal Government shall be limited to maintaining treaties, arbitration of intra-state disputes including the Federal Court system, foreign relations, and maintaining the military necessary to securing and protecting our borders.

    Revision 1: The Federal government is NOT granted the power to regulate interstate commerce (bye-bye FDA, etc.), but is authorized to set trade policies, embargoes and establish most-favored nation status with recognized foreign countries. However, states may NOT impose tariffs or other taxes on business transactions either entering or leaving their respective states.

    The Federal government is specifically restricted from mandating participation in federal programs involving public education, the arts, the news media (bye bye NEA, PBS).

    The Federal government is directed to sell all Federally-owned public parks and use all proceeds to pay down the debt or to be placed in a rainy-day fund. (bye bye Department of the Interior, massive cuts to Department of Energy). Exceptions may include areas within Washington, D.C. and possibly Mount Rushmore.

    Abolition of the Navigable Rivers Act, essentially neutering the EPA. Also, a prohibition on regulation of any naturally occurring atmospheric gases.
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  • Posted by $ blarman 10 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Government. Constitution set things up pretty well, IMO, with all checks and balances. I would add two further amendments, however.

    1) No bill shall be passed by Congress and Ratified by the president that gives preferential treatment to any one segment of the population over another (including Congress).

    This would effectively mandate flat tax rates on everyone and prohibit Congress from passing sweetheart deals favoring political cronies. You could get rid of a LOT of waste with that simple principle.

    2) Expenditures for any given year may not exceed income. (Mandatory balanced budget). No other business can or may be conducted by Congress except the declaration of War until the budget has been passed.

    3) All laws authorizing the expenditures of public funds expire no later than the end of the term of the body proposing such.

    Since all revenue laws must originate in the House, that means that all bills that spend money must get re-authorized every two years. This makes heavy-handed bills like the ACA an improbability and provides a way for disastrous bills like this to die on their own.
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  • Posted by 10 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    A better idea would be to keep the government tied to these shores where we can see some of how money is spent What is next,are we gonna outsource the courts? At least if the jobs are kept here tax money goes to fund this government and not someone elses. Then there are less unemployed.
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  • Posted by Herb7734 10 years, 3 months ago
    If all humans were rational, you'd need only two rules, as follows:
    1. M.Y.O.B. Mind Your Own Business.
    2. The right to say No to anyone for any reason.
    However, we are, as a race, regrettably, very far from that. In the meantime, mankind must have a government and a method of funding it. It can be done equitably if rationality prevails.
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  • Posted by Robbie53024 10 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    As I understand the basis of Objectivist morality (and I'm not one, so don't claim to be an authority) it is that the rationality for not harming another is that I don't expect them to harm me. That is an implicit contract.
    I don't buy into that, by the way. Given an environment where there is no expectation of ultimate accounting for ones action (religion) or explicit accounting according to a man-made law, I see no logical rationale where the "baddest ass on the block" would not be the ultimate result. It seems to be the typical human situation.
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  • Posted by 10 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    A nation has borders and even Ayn Rand recognized that borders should be protected. They are not Robbie's set of rules they are rules that were set in place by a government individuals elected to ensure to protect the individual rights of the citizens. Every immigrant inhibits my right to pursuit of life liberty and happiness.Objectivism ends in a zero gain for the people that do not have a business. The rights of every individual should be respected, not by appeasng a foreign nation that impedes the individual rights of it's citizens. This should be done by allowing the foreign nation to work out it's problems with the individuals already there, so they too can buy our products. What is productive about lowering wages to the point that people can't even purchase food clothing and shelter? Starvation will become the gun that prevents people from negotiating. When we get to the point that we can't afford to make purchases from businesses we will make our own products and barter with each other or we will become a slave of the wealthy. People will be hurt.
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  • Posted by Robbie53024 10 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Why couldn't those things be done voluntarily by the people affected? And more efficiently, to boot?
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  • Posted by illucio 10 years, 3 months ago
    I believe the problem with taxes is ho they´re used, which nowadays is completely unfair. If I were king, taxes would be reinvested directly on those who paid them, so that farmers would have their roads and communications optimized, industrialists their energy demands met promptly and transportation optimized, citizens have all their needs met for residential areas, public transportation improved, alternative energy projects, education, security, etc. It would only be a matter of reorganizing the beurocracy at hand and being all the more transparent about the uses of these "conglomorated contributions". For some reason, this should always have been like this yet it never has been.
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  • Posted by 10 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I agree there is no way that we can expect to hold a government together if we wait for people to donate.People that want control of the populace would simply let the government fall by the wayside, then take over.
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  • Posted by Herb7734 10 years, 3 months ago
    "The only proper purpose of a government is to protect man's rights, which means to protect him from physical violence." -- Ayn Rand
    But maintenance of a police force and military in order to do that, doesn't come free. Therefore certain monies need to be levied from the populace based on the cost of the militia as well as courts to arbitrate disputes and determine guilt or innocence. Only laws which pertain to the above would be the only valid laws. As a race, humanity is not mature enough at present to exist without government, laws, and yes, taxes, limited as above.
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  • Posted by $ Thoritsu 10 years, 3 months ago
    Basic capitalism succeeds by naturally (and aggressively) seeking a minimum. Government only has value when a such a local minimum is will never converge to a necessary global minimum, for example to provide national security (as is required, since there are other nasty countries). The slippery slope is defining the functions that a simple. least means algorithm (capitalism) will not naturally provide.
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  • Posted by lyndamond 10 years, 3 months ago
    Individual Rights and Government Wrongs, by Brian Phillips, will answer most of your questions. Available as an e-book.
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  • Posted by CWhitneyR 10 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I stand corrected, and agree with your expansion. The results are much worse with regulations perpetrated by an unchecked Big Government Bureaucracy.
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