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James Turner

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Smaller Government in all countries around the world

Is there a way we can rationally and gradually shrink all governments in countries all over the world and reduce them to providing protection on national level and let the local take care of their own problems and seek help from other local governments?

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    James Turner 10+

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    Feb 19 2013: Smaller the govt the less it can interfere in human rights and individual freedoms. The more local the govt the easier it can be corrected Nd over reach stopped with less loss of life. In theory anyway. So to the call of the question how do we reduce govt to minimal size world wide and let individual freedom grow as well as individual responsibility for life. How do we do it?
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      Mike Colera 10+

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      Feb 19 2013: We Can't.
      There are people who are ... afraid of freedom and individual rights. They feel secure in having a "big" government taking care of them from cradle to grave.
      So, to approach them and say, we could tailor your governance so that it will allow your individual freedoms with the minimal of restrictions... etc. I am afraid we would be told to go away. We even have a portion of the citizenry of the USA who hold that philosophy.
      Would it be better to have smaller governance? Yes, But how do you hold the nose of a childish population to make it take the bitter medicine as they see it. And then take away their security blankets? You will have a world wide squealing of babes.
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        Rustam Eynaliyev

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        Feb 20 2013: replace it with more efficient ones and phase them out gradually. E.G. increase compensation for voucher programs, which would lead to better education at a lower cost. Stop wars. Replace ridiculous number of welfare systems with a simple solution e.g. negative income tax. You see where i'm going
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          Mike Colera 10+

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          Feb 20 2013: I am confused. How would " bettering voucher programs, replacing welfare systems, Starting wars? that may have merit" ; reduce the size of government? All of these require government agencies. The best idea is to remove as many agencies as possible.
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        Rustam Eynaliyev

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        Feb 20 2013: they'd reduce government in terms of spending. Which due to economic realities of the day, has to be done. Also I said STOP wars not start wars...please read more carefully before responding. The fact of the matter is, people depend on these programs. If you were to eliminate a bunch of agencies overnight you'd create a havoc in the short run. Stopping wars would have an obvious benefit of reducing spending, so will replacing current educational system with a voucher based system. The spending will go down. Education quality will most likely improve, which is has a strong effect economy in developed nations. Let's take import taxes for example. If you were to nullify them overnight unemployment will rise dramatically. But if you were to phase it out gradually, e.g. by a set amount over let's say 5 year period, in the first year, unemployment would be affected far less, and industries at home would have time to adopt to new market realities and know what to expect as import taxes gradually cease to exist. The same can be done about pretty much every government program. I do not believe in government provision of goods, however I also do not believe in complete absence of government as well. Providing infrastructure is a necessary investment which ensures fast growth in developing nations. In developed nations, efficient infrastructure is a given, and it's the ease of doing business, low taxes i.e. business friendly environment and well educated workforce is what gives countries edge.

        As far as reducing government in terms of regulations, even though propose above solutions will probably greatly reduce the bureaucracy they are in no way enough. People will have to ask politicians to do it. Generally, at least in U.S. , people get what they ask for. It's just sometimes they're led to ask for things they don't really want.
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          Mike Colera 10+

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          Feb 20 2013: Hi
          No, I read your "stop wars" . I see stop wars as the wrong phraseology. We don't really want to start wars. You only stop once it has started...anyway that was my take.
          But you have addressed my point exactly. People have been accepting all these goods and services by the central government and keep accepting and even asking for more. The problem as I see it is that governments have no method to gain wealth except to take it from people, which makes some people unhappy. But the biggest loss in this process is not the money but freedoms and independence. These are traded for safety and security. If you want that from your government, I have no problem with your choice, I believe you have that freedom. I just rather have my freedom and independence.
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