Oh, And Now I Started Myself Off On A Rant...

...So here we go.



I am tired of hearing brainless lefties (there are some semi-intelligent lefties, but they usually have the good sense not to say things like this) tell me that anyone thinking the government is out to get them is just being paranoid.



"That's only in the movies."

Uh-huh.



Well, the plethora of ways the government is spying on you now seeming to have no effect on the invincible wall of willful ignorance you've generated for yourselves, I am going to attempt to breach it with logic.



This will, unfortunately, inevitably fail. If you are so closed-minded that you are incapable of understanding that when facts disagree with theories, the theories are wrong, then logic cannot touch you, because you are an irrational idiot.



But maybe there are a few of you out there who simply don't know what to believe; you may be rational, but ill-informed.



This Post's For You!â„¢

So here we go.



Government does not give up power. It acquires it and does not give it back unless forced to.



That's a bald statement, hmmm? I'll tell you why this is true.



Human beings are the administrators of government.

That's it. Simple, eh?

See, human beings, as rational - or at least semi-rational - beings, have an innate drive to sustain or improve their conditions. There's not a "real" term for this that I know of; maybe someone with a better vocabulary than mine can come up with an obscure word. The closest I was able to get was homeostasis: an organism's desire and ability to regulate itself to maintain an acceptable status quo. This, of course, does not take into account the inherent desire for IMPROVEMENT.



You! Yes, you reading this! Ever wish your life was better?



That's what I'm talking about. Every thinking being wishes that it was having a better time, and each time a goal is achieved, the being thinks "and now, I want THIS..." ad infinitum.



This is even true of government workers.  See, secretly, they're human beings too. That means they want a raise. How do you get a raise? Prove you're better than the guy in the next cubicle, that's how. In government, this takes the form of influence - peddling; each bureaucrat tries to get the most stuff possible declared to be his (or her, God knows) responsibility, thus proving their astounding capacity, and therefore worthiness for betterment.



Of course,  if that betterment is dependent upon their area of responsibility, they will guard their responsibilities like attack dogs, BECAUSE THEIR LIVELIHOODS DEPEND ON IT.

The inevitable result of this is that when a government agency is empowered to do something - anything - it stays that way, because every bureaucrat whose rent payment and 401(k) depends on that power will fight tooth and nail to prevent its dissolution.



Governments acquire power and do not return it unless forced to do so, because it is human nature to defend one's interests, and no government yet has been devised to get around that, except by fiction authors. (David Eddings once came up with the interesting notion that elected officials should have a strict "one elected term, in any job, ever" limit, and upon election, have their entire material wealth liquidated and put in the public treasury, thus placing their wellbeing as hostage to their job performance in a more direct fashion; if the society made money, so did they. If not, they could get out of office and go directly to the poorhouse.)



I've never actually heard of anyone trying that. That doesn't preclude the possibility that someone, somewhere, has - but I've done a good bit of reading about this, and I would have to see very, very convincing proof.



Anyway, my point is that the form of government does not matter: communism, socialism, libertarianism, democracy, federalism, republicanism, all are subject to the same immutable fact that if a human is rational, they will attempt to better themselves; thus government workers have a vested interest, personally, in screwing the citizens.

Oh, and in case anyone still thinks all the stuff you see in the movies can't happen, let me ask this: if Google Earth can show pictures of your house from space, why is it challenging to you to believe that the military can read your license plate from space? It shouldn't be; the only reason Google Earth can't do better is that the government won't let them.



Get scared: you should be. Go watch the Will Smith movie Enemy of the State, and then tell yourself over and over that they can't really do those things.



You're lying to yourself, but maybe it'll make you feel better.