Getting the "government" We Deserve

[Brad Sallows]

Actually, getting rid of a number of lawyers could be very concrete.  Any guesses as to how far we could downsize the legal profession before people start complaining of a shortage of lawyers?

 

[Wayne Coady]

Brad I have no idea, but it was mentioned to me that Canada has the highest number of lawyers per capita and there are more and more every year. I couuld care less about how many lawyers this country  has, all I want to see is few to none elected into "government".

 

[TCBF]

As soon as someone - maybe you or me - could not get legal aide.  

Tom

 

[Wayne Coady]

As soon as someone - maybe you or me - could not get legal aide.  

Tom

What does getting or not getting legal aid have to do with getting good government? I know of rich people who get legal aid and the HST rebate. While other get walked over. No we have to get rid of political parties, bring in a consensus "government , free from party corruption.
You  all have a great day, I am going hiking.

 

[TCBF]

"Any guesses as to how far we could downsize the legal profession before people start complaining of a shortage of lawyers?" - Brad Salllows

"As soon as someone - maybe you or me - could not get legal aide. " - Tom


i did not quote Mr. Sallows as I thought I was posting quickly.  I was not, your post was first, and so mine was out of context.  The logical order is above.

Tom

 

[48Highlander]

I know.   We could start with government pruned down to defence and security, and law and order.

Then someone would have a Bright Progressive Idea.   And, you know, forming associations and founding institutions and raising funds is just so much work, and the government is right there with a police force and armed forces to back it up, and golden bureaucratic sinecures are so much more attractive than actually working and worrying from day to day about keeping the operation going, and after all your people are so much smarter and better intentioned than other people anyways...

The US tried that.  At first, the federal government was founded primarily for defence from external threats and as a forum for the seperate states to deal with eachother.  The federal government was strictly forbidden from doing a lot of the things it does now.  The problem is that the more power a government gets, the more they want.  The more laws they create, the easier it becomes to justify new ones.  The more they raise taxes and get away with it, the easier it seems to be to bring them up another percentage point.  This isn't something specific to Canada, it's something that's been (as far as I can tell) true throughout human history.  The main reasons the americans aren't as bad as us is that they originaly gave their government a lot less power than we gave ours, and that they don't have the socialist mentality which seems to rule canada.  Even so, their federal government continues to gain more power, and socialist policies continu to gain favour amongst the populace.  So in the end, they just have a lot of catching up to do before they get as bad as we are

 

[Brad Sallows]

Yep.  They started out with a strong constitution, but states' powers and individuals' freedoms have been subject to considerable interpretation, redefinition, and erosion since.  I don't know how close to unanimity you'd have to make the amending formula of a constitution to protect it from that sort of encroachment.