it does give a very strong indication that size of government isn't the problem
Not necessarily. It may be that size of government is a problem, but those other countries have encountered a different bottleneck before reaching it.
Nice try. No, this is "access to media."
If you're saying that I won't be allowed to put up a billboard saying "Senator Smith is a rat", or take out a newspaper ad saying the same, then you have shot the 1st Amendment squarely between the eyes.
all evidence has been that the greater the democracy, the greater the success. You can take the king; I'll take the people, every time.
I think you're arguing in circles. For one thing, there are still a lot of monarchies in the world, many of them quite free.
But more important, the entire point that you're arguing against is (if you'll excuse me for paraphrasing; I hope I'm not making a strawman): "It seems to me that the real solution is to dramatically limit the size of government, so that there is nothing to be bought"
That is, the top post in this thread wants to strip away the power of government, and allow people to make their own decisions (including using the power of the market to constrain the action of corporations seen to be doing bad things).
But you seem to be saying that in this case people cannot be trusted, so we need to give additional power to the government to constrain runaway corporations, and in particular to keep those very same corrupt politicians from selling out.
This is self-contradictory in two ways:
First, you've said on the one hand that you'll take power away from the government and vest it in the people, "every time" -- yet in order to support this, you're proposing that we do just the opposite (i.e., prevent people from voicing their opinions as widely as they feel warranted).
Second, you're postulating that the politicians are corrupt and can't be trusted. Yet your solution relies on giving them more power to limit our political behavior. It seems like you're giving them our weapons while telling them "use these guns to ensure that you don't shoot us".
Put up a billboard? No. Purchase access to mass media. There are only so many soap boxes and access is sold for money. You then get the situation where the one who has the most money can purchase all the soap boxes (again, ways to reach a mass audience). Their voice becomes the only one heard. Free speech is that you can say whatever you want (that doesn't change) -- but if you want access to the few seats of mass media to give political voice, if it's not regulated, it simply becomes the microphone of only the rich. Do you see?
Second, when you talk about "reducing government" what you mean is to shift it from the people to the private sector. Government is the people. That's the definition. It needs to be managed. But moving it to the private sector just makes it for-profit instead of non-profit, and opens up a whole new can of worms.
Again, look around. Countries with the highest standards of living are not struggling with this. Their large governments are not a problem, and in fact could be nicely argued to have provided that high standard of living.
Not necessarily. It may be that size of government is a problem, but those other countries have encountered a different bottleneck before reaching it.
Nice try. No, this is "access to media."
If you're saying that I won't be allowed to put up a billboard saying "Senator Smith is a rat", or take out a newspaper ad saying the same, then you have shot the 1st Amendment squarely between the eyes.
all evidence has been that the greater the democracy, the greater the success. You can take the king; I'll take the people, every time.
I think you're arguing in circles. For one thing, there are still a lot of monarchies in the world, many of them quite free.
But more important, the entire point that you're arguing against is (if you'll excuse me for paraphrasing; I hope I'm not making a strawman): "It seems to me that the real solution is to dramatically limit the size of government, so that there is nothing to be bought"
That is, the top post in this thread wants to strip away the power of government, and allow people to make their own decisions (including using the power of the market to constrain the action of corporations seen to be doing bad things).
But you seem to be saying that in this case people cannot be trusted, so we need to give additional power to the government to constrain runaway corporations, and in particular to keep those very same corrupt politicians from selling out.
This is self-contradictory in two ways:
First, you've said on the one hand that you'll take power away from the government and vest it in the people, "every time" -- yet in order to support this, you're proposing that we do just the opposite (i.e., prevent people from voicing their opinions as widely as they feel warranted).
Second, you're postulating that the politicians are corrupt and can't be trusted. Yet your solution relies on giving them more power to limit our political behavior. It seems like you're giving them our weapons while telling them "use these guns to ensure that you don't shoot us".