How to Run a Government 101

First off, we need to establish the basics which are the Natural Rights.m Ok i forgot what they were but it is crucial I think:meyes:.

 

I think we should have the freedom to streak... I don't know I just might become impulsive sometime.

 

As promised.

First of all I think we need a shift of focus, all I ever hear about is "growth", grow the economy, growth through development etc. Politicians love growth, it makes them feel good when they can point at a chart with an upwards trend. The problem with all this growth is we live in a closed system. Hoping that we'll all fly off in a spaceship to greener pastures when we've finally screwed the planet completely, is just wishful thinking. We are stuck here, in the fishbowl called planet earth. If we keep chasing growth then eventually there will be too many fish and too much fish crap to survive and the whole thing turns rancid. So without trying to sound too cliche or like a hippy, I think our focus needs to turn to sustainability, we aren't above the environmental system, we are a part of it and must operate in a way that the system functions healthily.

Growth for it's own sake is worthless, unsustainable growth has no base and leads to an inevitable fall. Most of our growth through the 20th century was through the use of millions of years of solar energy which we pulled up out of the ground in the form of oil. Achieveing unsustainable growth is no achievement at all, because eventually the system will collapse. Almost all of our economic success over the last century has been built on a finite resource, it has greatly exaggerated our perceived ability to feed and maintain such large populations, we are literally eating the oil out of the ground through the use of fertilizer and then transporting food with oil driven vehicles.

The key focus of any government's policy should be producing a high quality of life (this does not mean consumer goods) for as many people that is sustainable in the long run.

 

I agree that most of our governments are inefficient, every time you break something down into smaller units (Minister of the No.528 Bus Stop) you are encouraging small mindedness and self interest.

Self interest is one of the biggest problems facing any political system, it must be hard for a politicain to risk their huge income and make the hard (but risky in terms of votes) decisions, their focus will always be clouded by the need to maintain thier career and income. This is why we often see politicians thinking in terms of three or four years blocks till the next election rather than taking a long term strategic view. I often wonder what it would be like if all politicians were paid the minimum wage, it would certainly ensure that only those who really wanted to make a difference would be involved and self interest would mostly be eliminated. There would also be an incentive to improve pay conditions from the ground up. Of course I'm sure there are plenty of good reasons why that wouldn't work but it's a nice fantasy.