Comments by "dixon pinfold" (@dixonpinfold2582) on "Bloomberg Originals"
channel.
-
30
-
Yes, the US monitors communications. But they are not doing it in the service of repressing or controlling their people. I think that to believe they are is paranoia.
Governments have extraordinary powers, and they ought to. They can lock people up, fine them, police can commit violence, etc. That's fine as long as it's all in obedience to laws to which the people have given their consent, albeit indirectly, via the ballot box.
In a one-party state the people have not given their consent. Thus the government's exercise of power is illegitimate, suspect, and dangerous. It is bound in ways to benefit the party at the expense of those governed. That is how human self-interestedness works. Democracy is a check, imperfect but indispensable, on that self-interest.
In short, the exercise of power is inevitable. In one's own neighbourhood, armed force will always be a fact of life. But there is a difference between a police force ultimately answerable to the community and a gang answerable only to itself.
I could go on all day about the flaws and weaknesses of law enforcement and the justice system, likewise about the flaws and weaknesses of democracy, but I prefer it to a one-party system as much as I prefer police to gangs, and for the same reasons.
An elected government, because it can be thrown out, has a built-in advantage in trustworthiness. That is why US spying does not scare me the way Chinese spying does.
1
-
1
-
1