Which ones?

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For those who have fought to defend it, freedom has a taste the protected will never know...



If it wasn't for double standards, liberals would have no standards at all...

In ensuring that people have adequate access to the basic supplies of life (water, food, shelter, clothing) the government would be actively working to remove one the most basic causes of conflict. The government as an embodiment of the village acts in several different aspects to aid in cooperation. It acts to make sure someone doesn't monopolize access to a fundamental resource. It acts to ensure proper care of the resource so that the resource isn't contaminated, unfairly used or otherwise destroyed. In acting as a buffer between villages (towns, cities or any other societal system) it acts to ensure access to vital resources so that no one system as monopolized access to the supply.

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The practice of war without restraint simply furthers the causes of conflict. As a tool War is only suitable for a short window in the overall time stream. It is useful only to the point that cooperation is once again optimal for all parties involved. There are multiple examples of this through history. A prime example is seen in the situations that led to the rise of Nazi Germany. After the end of WW1 the victors established such deep costs in their retribution towards Germany that their ruthlessness was a direct influence in Hitler's rise to power. The Treaty of Versailles was responsible for a much greater conflict later because the victors acted with ruthless intent towards Germany and created such suffering in the German people that Hitler's path was easy.

We see this time and time again. The Crusades. The pacification of the American West. The constant back and forth between Israel and Palestine. And so forth. And so forth.

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Oh, a philosophy, well, that's different from politics, though most argue your politics is derived from your philosophy.

How about the Ten Principles of Burning Man

Radical Inclusion
Anyone may be a part of Burning Man. We welcome and respect the stranger. No prerequisites exist for participation in our community.

Gifting
Burning Man is devoted to acts of gift giving. The value of a gift is unconditional. Gifting does not contemplate a return or an exchange for something of equal value.

Decommodification
In order to preserve the spirit of gifting, our community seeks to create social environments that are unmediated by commercial sponsorships, transactions, or advertising. We stand ready to protect our culture from such exploitation. We resist the substitution of consumption for participatory experience.

Radical Self-reliance
Burning Man encourages the individual to discover, exercise and rely on his or her inner resources.

Radical Self-expression
Radical self-expression arises from the unique gifts of the individual. No one other than the individual or a collaborating group can determine its content. It is offered as a gift to others. In this spirit, the giver should respect the rights and liberties of the recipient.

Communal Effort
Our community values creative cooperation and collaboration. We strive to produce, promote and protect social networks, public spaces, works of art, and methods of communication that support such interaction.

Civic Responsibility
We value civil society. Community members who organize events should assume responsibility for public welfare and endeavor to communicate civic responsibilities to participants. They must also assume responsibility for conducting events in accordance with local, state and federal laws.

Leaving No Trace
Our community respects the environment. We are committed to leaving no physical trace of our activities wherever we gather. We clean up after ourselves and endeavor, whenever possible, to leave such places in a better state than when we found them.

Participation
Our community is committed to a radically participatory ethic. We believe that transformative change, whether in the individual or in society, can occur only through the medium of deeply personal participation. We achieve being through doing. Everyone is invited to work. Everyone is invited to play. We make the world real through actions that open the heart.

Immediacy
Immediate experience is, in many ways, the most important touchstone of value in our culture. We seek to overcome barriers that stand between us and a recognition of our inner selves, the reality of those around us, participation in society, and contact with a natural world exceeding human powers. No idea can substitute for this experience.

Adapted for society in general I think that would make a pretty nice world.

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Alizee Jacotay, the reason god invented hips

I dont know of anyone who thinks that govt cant do anything right, even if they say it. As you noted, govt does national defense right. Not perfect, but pretty damn good.

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"To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his father has acquired too much, in order to spare to others who (or whose fathers) have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, "to guarantee to everyone a free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it."

-Thomas Jefferson

A businessman is the same. The businessman agrees to defend the country against invasion, to protect the rights of fellow citizens. He pays a tax for that or contributes in labor or materials, the same as any citizen, succesful or not. Beyond that he comes up with his ideas and puts them into action, and owes no one for it. In a general sense of course. Were talking a minor adminstrative overhead vs the juggernaut that is current govts. Does the businessman owe homeless people food, or another citizen a house?

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"To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his father has acquired too much, in order to spare to others who (or whose fathers) have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, "to guarantee to everyone a free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it."

-Thomas Jefferson

Ok, but now your expanded your philosophy from govt being there to encourage cooperation (such as enable people to work together to farm by defending them from invasion) to provision (giving people what they need, by preventing one person from owning their land which they farm).

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"To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his father has acquired too much, in order to spare to others who (or whose fathers) have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, "to guarantee to everyone a free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it."

-Thomas Jefferson

My ideal government is the one based on our constitution.

Big programs I'm in favor of.... and I think make our nation strong include:

- Armed Forces and intelligence agencies
- Education
- NASA and other research entities
- Historic preservation....natural and man-made
- Disaster Response/Aid
- Infrastructure maintenance
- Periodic Infrastructure Improvement.
- FDA and water quality funding


Big programs I'd like to see ended:

-Social Security
-Welfare
-Agricultural subsidy
-Affirmative Action and Reparations (I'm speaking of Native Americans in regard to the reparations.)


General Policies I'd like to see changed:

-Must declare War before engaging in a large conventional conflict.
-A large conventional conflict must be defined so that exceptions are clear.
-Must have a stated objective and exit plan submitted as part of the declaration legislation.
-Ollegal immigration policy should be enforced with zero tolerance.
-A more conservative Federal Reserve policy.
-A mandate to have a balanced budget every year.

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The world could use more Stan Ovshinsky's

Thank you for for that insight. Without our warfare-state public policies, we could have production runs on public sector means of production as long as we have had our wars on abstractions.

Examples include right to life, right to liberty, right to property, etc.

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"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, ... That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men,"
-Declaration of Independence

Two truths that many Americans seem to have forgotten:
1. Men are endowed by God with inalienable rights.
2. Government's purpose is to secure man's God-given rights.

I was unaware that god lets us own stuff.

Where are these "rights" from god listed?

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For those who have fought to defend it, freedom has a taste the protected will never know...



If it wasn't for double standards, liberals would have no standards at all...

I lean towards primitivism and localism. I could maybe tolerate a chief of a small tribe, perhaps a council of elders... But once we get to the level of nation-states my political philosophy pretty much amounts to take whatever the fuck you can get from them, and always work to subvert them.

Andrew

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“...corporations and those who run them cannot stop exploiting resources and amassing wealth until they have... .I cannot finish this sentence, because the truth is that can never stop; like cancer, they can only continue to expand until they kill the host.”

-- Derrick Jensen

But that would be self-defeating, wouldn’t it?

If you want to get as much from them as you can, it would be silly to try to subvert them. Subvert them effectively enough, and you get nothing from them…

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For those who have fought to defend it, freedom has a taste the protected will never know...



If it wasn't for double standards, liberals would have no standards at all...

Ultimately that's the plan. But as long as they lord over us, i demand services galore.

Andrew

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“...corporations and those who run them cannot stop exploiting resources and amassing wealth until they have... .I cannot finish this sentence, because the truth is that can never stop; like cancer, they can only continue to expand until they kill the host.”

-- Derrick Jensen

I think our societal "conscience" can rest easy if we eliminate official poverty. As a civic duty, should we be required to do more than that?