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Josiah Thompson

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Is the solution to "coding a better government" really to be bureaucratically active, or is it to tone down bureaucracy?

I think the real problem is that there's too much bureaucracy in the government, and really in everything. There's too many rules and loopholes to go through, that it just makes life much more inconvenient. America claims to be about freedom, but I feel very limited in what I can do because of all of this bureaucracy, however I don't believe it should be completely painted out of the picture. Everything should be taken in moderation. I also think that social change comes from real political activism. Rosa Parks and Gandhi weren't bureaucratic activists, yet they seemed to have made a very large impact on their societies.

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Topics: American government activism bureucracy social change
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    Scott Armstrong 50+

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    Sep 13 2012: the problem is the huge divide between the ideal and the reality. they do not match up.
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    Gail . 50+

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    Sep 12 2012: Thomas Jefferson said something that I heartily agree with: The government that governs least, governs best.

    There is a role for government, but it is not that of tyrannical dictatorship that destroys individual freedoms in the name of freedom itself, as is the case in the USA
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      Josiah Thompson

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      Sep 14 2012: I have to agree. I've recently read Henry David Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience" and it makes some excellent points. Probably my favorite quote from that would be this, "Law never made men a whit more just; and, by means of their respect for it, even the well-disposed are daily made agents of injustice." The whole essay talks about how man's conscience has the supreme word over law. And I feel that's not how society currently works.
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    Ehis Odijie 10+

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    Sep 12 2012: It has to be 'tone down bureaucracy'. Before we talk of a 'better government' we first have to agree on what government really is.

    Here you have a little community that is constantly under threat from wild animals. It might be helpful for the community to come together for the common problem - hence common goal of security. That is the meaning of government - achieving together what we cannot achieve independently. Government is a means, an instrumentality, neither a grantor of favors and gifts, nor a master or god to be blindly worshiped and served.
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      Krisztián Pintér 200+

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      TED Translator
      Sep 12 2012: "That is the meaning of government - achieving together what we cannot achieve independently"

      that is called cooperation. government is when a small group decides the solution, and forces others to comply
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        Ehis Odijie 10+

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        Sep 12 2012: In principle it is not a small group but cooperation from everyone. You elected someone to put forward your views, so, when elected officials come to a decision it is a decision by everyone within a system- this is the principle of it. Government is another word for cooperation - at least on paper.
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    Krisztián Pintér 200+

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    TED Translator
    Sep 11 2012: do you think that we need a moderate amount of malaria?
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      Josiah Thompson

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      Sep 12 2012: No, I don't think we need a moderate amount of malaria. That's a good point, but I'm not quite sure where you're going with it.
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    James Zhang 30+

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    Sep 11 2012: There needs to be a smarter design.

    Honestly, it's ironic how uncommon common sense really is lol
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    pat gilbert 50+

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    Sep 10 2012: The latter
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