From: jimbell@pacifier.com (Jim Bell)
Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 16:21:24 +0800
To: Kent Crispin <cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
Subject: Re: Rejecting Dialog with Government Vermin
Message-ID: <199705020738.AAA02377@mail.pacifier.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 22:43 5/01/97 -0700, Kent Crispin wrote:
>On Wed, Apr 30, 1997 at 08:24:27PM -0800, Jim Bell wrote:
>> I feel confident that a statistical analysis of various countries'
>> governments would reveal a wide scatter in the relationship between
>> population and government size.  One of the main factors in this scatter is
>> simply the amount that government has decided to butt into activities that
>> could (and should) be privatized.   Another is the amount that the
>> government steals from one group in order to reliably receive the votes of
>> some other group.
>
>> Population size would end up being a very poor determinant of government 
>> size.  
>
>Yes, there would be scatter, but it is not important. 

The only reason "it is not important" is that this scatter is what
demolishes your view of the world.

> Population size
>is *obviously* a strong determinant of government size.

But probably not even close to the largest determinant.


>So, having clearly established that larger countries will on balance 
>have larger governments, we can then just look at organizational 
>dynamics.  *Any* large organization requires more infrastructure to 
>function.  *Any* large organization will develop bureaucracy.  This 
>is true for governments, this is true for businesses, this is true 
>for schools, this is true for militias.  A big city police department 
>will have many different precints, with multiple layers of 
>management, a small town will have a chief of police and a few 
>deputies.


But NONE of this is truly needed.  I have a solution to that problem.


Jim Bell
jimbell@pacifier.com