[quote=CA renter]1. IMHO, this is an argument for a LARGER government, not a smaller one.[/quote]
Actually it would most definitely end up being smaller, as I’m only referring to the most powerful positions. The rest would remain “regular” employees. Using the federal government as an example, once you replace 1,000 (or whatever) major decision makers with 10,000 private citizens, making choices based on logic rather than vested interests (what a concept!), the other 1.8m government employees would immediately begin getting trimmed. No more squirrel research, although programs with incredibly obvious benefits (such as stem cell research) would receive funding because it makes sense.
[quote]2. I have far less faith in “academics” regarding war (or just about anything else) than I do with highly competent, **experienced** people who have proven themselves in their respective fields over a long period of time.
“Academics” brought us the financial crisis and all the failed (and extremely expensive!) bailouts. The corruption was there, to be sure, but the academics failed to sound the alarm. It was bloggers and a handful of more intelligent professionals who were trying to warn about the credit/housing bubble when it was still growing. The “experts” failed to see it (at least, that’s what they claim), and they failed to stop it when it was perfectly clear what the outcome was going to be.[/quote]
Ah, but the academics you speak of had ulterior motives. They were primarily interested in the success of themselves or their company (“it’s a great time to buy/invest!”). The bloggers and professionals that you also mention are the academics I speak of. Self-taught or college educated, it’s the private citizens that I trust, the ones who would not benefit from the decisions they made in government service. I know there would be exceptions and some individuals would still make biased decisions, but that’s where the sheer numbers come in. A large group of knowledgable, mostly unbiased people would make better decisions than the people currently “serving” us. The corporations that now benefit from political corruption will be policed by the new service employees and the regulations they put in place.
I don’t doubt there are problems with this idea, but I’m confident it would work better than the joke of a system we have now.
