Harry Reid recently said that government is inherently good. That, of course, isn’t true. There are all sorts of awful governments out there that cause greater harm than good as an inherent function of what they are*. However, that doesn’t mean that certain types of governments can’t be inherently good. Perhaps Reid went on to be specific about what he meant (I only heard the clip on conservative talk shows, so it’s best to assume it was rid of any context), because if he did, there is at least one obvious form of government that, yes, is inherently good: Democracy.
*Incidentally, the causing of more harm than good is why some governments are bad. It has nothing to do with the liberty which they may or may not provide; liberty is morally secondary.
Filed under: Misc | Tagged: Government, Thought of the day |
For the Sake of Science 
I suspect Reid was addressing the wingnuts who bellow that any government at all is inherently BAD, i.e., libertarians and other corporate shills (conscious or unconscious).