Overall, is government bad?

[FreeSpirit1983]

I know that government is needed, but I have a theory that government is bad, overall.

Look at the atrocities committed by governments; Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, etc., etc.

Look at the repressive governments in the Middle East; Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran, etc., etc.

Government attracts the worst type of people. Look at the U.S. President! Donald Trump.

Government attracts narcissists, thieves, despots, etc., etc.

Look at how many governments straight up steal from their own people.

I think government is bad, overall.

What do you think?

[xhightension]

Government is layered, multidimensional, because humans instill them based off weathered situations. Historical context comes in to play - think about the ideas that surround the concept of government: struggle for power(Nietzche), people need to be contained(Hume), the idea of democracy and implication of the potential of individuals(Locke)

'There is no simple answer' is the catch22 of the answer.

[Gloominary]

Not to mention the progressive fascist elite, they're giving government a bad name.

[Gloominary]

Government could be better if more people started taking a chance on independents and third parties from middle and working class backgrounds instead of 1st parties from upper class backgrounds backed by megacorporate donors and the MSM who never do near half of what they say they'll do anyway.

[Peter Kropotkin]

I know that government is needed, but I have a theory that government is bad, overall.

Look at the atrocities committed by governments; Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, etc., etc.

Look at the repressive governments in the Middle East; Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran, etc., etc.

Government attracts the worst type of people. Look at the U.S. President! Donald Trump.

Government attracts narcissists, thieves, despots, etc., etc.

Look at how many governments straight up steal from their own people.

I think government is bad, overall.

What do you think?

K: government is a tool and like any other tool can be useful or
dangerous...if we used government as it should be used, it is the basis
of all civilization...there cannot be any civilization without government....
in, fact, if one were to define civilization, government is part of
that defination....

think about the great civilizations that has existed and the foundation of
every single one of them has been government... From the Egyptians to
the Greeks to the Romans... the Medieval/Dark ages occured when
the government itself failed and all that was left was the Church...
at the same time as the Middle ages was occuring in the west,
we had great and thriving civilizations in the middle east and in Asia
and they were thriving because of the strenght of the government...
when the West rose again, it was because the government, the state,
rose again... it is a direct cause and effect... civilization can only exist
within a strong and stable government.... think I am wrong?

Name me a strong civilization that didn't have a strong and stable
government? There isn't one......

the connection between government and civilization cannot
be ignored or dismissed.... it is a fact... you want civilization,
you have to have government/state to have it... simple as that....

Kropotkin

[attano]

I know that government is needed, but I have a theory that government is bad, overall.

Look at the atrocities committed by governments; Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, etc., etc.

Look at the repressive governments in the Middle East; Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran, etc., etc.

Government attracts the worst type of people. Look at the U.S. President! Donald Trump.

Government attracts narcissists, thieves, despots, etc., etc.

Look at how many governments straight up steal from their own people.

I think government is bad, overall.

What do you think?

It may be that government is bad, after all.
Yet, I guess some questions are in order here.
First off: what is government? The government is the executive branch, or maybe we can only say a function, of the state. Its form may vary as the forms of the state vary, and its scope, the extent of what it can do or can't, is normally a function of the form of the state.
Now, how is it appropriate to blame the idea of government for atrocities and stuff independently of the people in charge or without encompassing the whole form of the state that enables some government to do what it does (notably in the case of despots)?

[Meno_]

Government is neither good or bad, governance is different. It results from the infusion of power, to will something that has different degrees of re presentation.
Government is necessary , evil or good, everybody wants it, and needs it.

[promethean75]

i think government is only bad when you do a half-assed job of it. if you're gonna do it, you go all in.