Reddit Reddit reviews Why Government Doesn't Work

We found 4 Reddit comments about Why Government Doesn't Work. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

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Why Government Doesn't Work
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4 Reddit comments about Why Government Doesn't Work:

u/emazur · 4 pointsr/Libertarian

The Law by Frederic Bastiat (awesome, short, soooo many quotable quotes)

Healing Our World by Dr. Mary Ruwart (old version available free)

Haven't read any of his books (have listened to many lectures and radio show), but something by Harry Browne should do quite nicely. I've heard great things about Why Government Doesn't Work

Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity - John Stossel (do check out his excellent Fox Business show "Stossel" on hulu.com, and look for his old 20/20 specials on libertarianism - they're fantastic)

good economists: Peter Schiff, Walter Williams, Thomas Sowell, Walter Block

You might be better off waiting til you get more comfortable with libertarianism, but G. Edward Griffin's Creature From Jekyll Island is a must read. It's more about the monetary system and the Federal Reserve than libertarianism in general though.

I haven't read anything that makes a good argument against libertarianism, but can recommend a guy who makes a seemingly good argument against capitalism and for socialism - Michael Parenti. I haven't read any of his pro-socialist books (but have one on foreign policy called The Terrorist Trap which is quite good and very short. Libertarians and socialists tend to agree on not inviting war and not waging war). But I have listened to his pro-socialist lectures - they're well delivered and impassioned and a person who didn't know any better would easily be tempted. They're worth listening to to use his arguments and twist them to actually make the case FOR libertarianism. He'll use some faulty facts/data that leftists typically do such as "Hoover was an ardent free-market advocate and we can blame him and capitalism for causing the Great Depression" (we can blame him for the depression all right (prolonging it, to be specific), not b/c he was a capitalist but b/c he really started all the policies that FDR continued when he got into office)

u/dp25x · 1 pointr/Libertarian

Harry Browne's 1996 campaign book, "Why Government Does Not Work" has a lot of material covering how government programs typically do the opposite of what they are intended to do.

u/argash · 1 pointr/politics

Try "Why Government Doesn't Work" By Harry Browne. That's the book that finally cured me of my ties to the republican party.

u/YesYesLibertarians · 1 pointr/politics

My pleasure :) Thank you for being open-minded. I know lots of people will disregard documents hosted at Mises.org out of hand as "biased". I would rather call it "starting with a radical thesis." :)

> their assumption is that if people don't give to the government, they will automatically donate most of that same money to comparable charities, which is simply not the case.

I won't defend it if they actually made that argument in the paper, but I don't think the validity of the argument hinges on what the person would've otherwise spent the money on. I'd like to clarify the opportunity cost argument as I've seen it elsewhere (like from Harry Browne in Why Government Doesn't Work): Every cent we spend involves an opportunity cost, but our free will in the exchange is what allows us to maximize the effect of that spending. Yet when the money is taken from you arbitrarily, all you get is opportunity cost with no opportunities. The money might get spent on roads or food stamps, but it also might get spent on bombs or waterboarding sessions. You don't have the control you would have in a free exchange.

> [Taxation] is not slavery.

I suppose it isn't, literally speaking. But to someone who considers taxation a form of theft, it is in the same moral category. If I owe for using government services, why don't they just bill me? They can find the time to do that when it comes to their water and power monopolies.

According to the Grace Commission, that money gets spent much more on finance payments than on any of those federal services we know and love. Dated as the report is, I hope it helps make the point that you can't count on your taxes being spent on the things from the government you actually value.

> [Breaking up families is] better than letting people starve. I'm not sure how best to combat this type of warping.

I'm of the opinion that it is not better, not just because these people being helped are not actually in mortal peril, but because I believe it's possible to do an equal amount of good without the unintended consequences. Simply leave the care of the poor to those who are intrinsically called to do it. Those people operate on different incentives from the state. They will have greater effect if their efforts aren't crowded out or counteracted by state actions. Besides, if a society is not already inclined to help the poor, what hope do we have of producing a government that can do it?

How we care for the downtrodden says something about who we are as a civilization. I don't think it says very good things about us if we're willing to shuffle other people's money around mostly on bureaucratic costs, in a system that turns the poor into political footballs, then pat ourselves on the back like we did something good.