What makes the US Govt trustworthy?

[Msgr. Martinez]

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I trust the US government because under its leadership I and most Americans are reasonably free, prosperous and repesented in the decision making.

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I like having herpes because it's not as bad as AIDS or syphilis, and with some dietary modification and heavy Valtrex application, I can suppress outbreaks enough to have a reasonably fulfilling sex life.

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Exactly what world do you live in? Your criticism is that government is not perfect?

[bkholdem]

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Everybody acts in their own best interest.

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That's exactly why you can trust people.

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I bought a hot dog from a hot dog stand the other day. The hot dog vendor could have given me a very poor quality or deadly hotdog, but he did not. If he gives our crappy hot dogs, no one is going to give him business, and action might be taken against him. He is acting in his own best interest. That is why you can trust hot dog vendors.

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Good point. This is why I trust cigarette manufacturers.

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Are you comparing them to organic vegetable producers without overtly saying so?

[ConstantineX]

Does a customer buy a hotdog with the expectation of having a dirty or poor quality hotdog? With the knowledge disseminated by the Surgeon General, does he now buy a cigarette with an expectation of a "healthy" cigarette?

Consumers expect a product, and corporations deliver the product they expect to the best of their ability, and you can TRUST them to deliver the product you want. No doubt the cigarette makers would like cigarettes not to cause cancer, but to assign them culpability...

[bkholdem]

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I trust the US government because under its leadership I and most Americans are reasonably free, prosperous and repesented in the decision making.

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I like having herpes because it's not as bad as AIDS or syphilis, and with some dietary modification and heavy Valtrex application, I can suppress outbreaks enough to have a reasonably fulfilling sex life.

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Exactly what world do you live in? Your criticism is that government is not perfect?

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Msgr., please tell me what makes the government trustworthy.

[jimmytrick]

Have not read the thread, sorry. The US Govt is more trustworthy than some other types because of term limits. Political power is always up for grabs. The more energy would be tyrants have to expend to get power the less energy they have to abuse it...and us.

That being said, damn if they don't find the time anyway.

Still another factor is the existence of free (somewhat)speech. The press acts to lessen the abuse of power. I can trust the US government to fear the press and in that I have a hell of a lot more confidence than ever I could individual politicians.

Most of the abuses of government have to be sold to the press first and then to the public. Which is why everyone should automatically oppose every point of political correctness. Bad to smoke, maybe, and maybe you deplore it and never have. But the only intelligent thing to do is head straight for the restaurants when smoking is newly prohibited and light up a cigar because that action, regardless of its consequences to you, protects individual freedoms in this country.

The more we conform to what our government wants, the less we can trust it.

[DVaut1]

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Does a customer buy a hotdog with the expectation of having a dirty or poor quality hotdog? With the knowledge disseminated by the Surgeon General, does he now buy a cigarette with an expectation of a "healthy" cigarette?

Consumers expect a product, and corporations deliver the product they expect to the best of their ability, and you can TRUST them to deliver the product you want. No doubt the cigarette makers would like cigarettes not to cause cancer, but to assign them culpability...

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So when hmk says that because hot dog vendors act on their own-self interest, we can "trust" them -- he doesn't actually mean they won't sell us a product that harms us. What he really means is that we can "trust" hot dog vendors, because when we ask them for a hot dog, they'll sell us a hot dog, and not a pencil, because we expected a hot dog?

If so, I agree. We can trust cigarette manufacturers will sell us cigarettes, and not pencils, if we buy cigarettes from them -- because we expected them to sell us cigarettes. By definition, this almost certainly has to be true. They wouldn't really be cigarette manufacturers if they actually supplied pencils, right? Circular logic FTW.

[cbh]

People trust the government because the trust is reinforced. All throughout school you learn of the great American patriots and the great things that our government has done. Also, everyone is aware of the connotations of being called unpatriotic in this country.

[Brainwalter]

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People trust the government because the trust is reinforced. All throughout school you learn of the great American patriots and the great things that our government has done. Also, everyone is aware of the connotations of being called unpatriotic in this country.

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So, your answer is brainwashing?

[Msgr. Martinez]

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I trust the US government because under its leadership I and most Americans are reasonably free, prosperous and repesented in the decision making.

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I like having herpes because it's not as bad as AIDS or syphilis, and with some dietary modification and heavy Valtrex application, I can suppress outbreaks enough to have a reasonably fulfilling sex life.

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Exactly what world do you live in? Your criticism is that government is not perfect?

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Msgr., please tell me what makes the government trustworthy.

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I asked first.

[cbh]

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People trust the government because the trust is reinforced. All throughout school you learn of the great American patriots and the great things that our government has done. Also, everyone is aware of the connotations of being called unpatriotic in this country.

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So, your answer is brainwashing?

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Exactly.