Comments on: The Value of Government http://www.nurturingenvironments.org/2010/04/27/the-value-of-government/ Promoting the spread of nurturing environments. Wed, 05 Oct 2011 21:40:42 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Hekate http://www.nurturingenvironments.org/2010/04/27/the-value-of-government/comment-page-1/#comment-2162 Hekate Mon, 03 May 2010 21:59:19 +0000 http://www.nurturingenvironments.org/?p=179#comment-2162 I love this analysis of the value of government. While you provided many particulars about outcomes and programs I found the following sentence provided me with the best paradigm shift I have experienced in many years. "The implicit assumption in discussions of these issues is that a given economic and political system should be preferred because it improves human wellbeing. " The improvement of human wellbeing is rarely mentioned in the diatribes against (or for that matter in favor of) government. The inclusion of this concept in all discussions of how the world ought to be run could focus the mind almost as well as imminent hanging--but w/o the heart-pounding terror. And besides, it would give us a scale on which to determine the success of our efforts in the here and now. (I think it's reasonable to leave the effect of public policies on access to a given afterlife to individual preferences and beliefs.) I love this analysis of the value of government. While you provided many particulars about outcomes and programs I found the following sentence provided me with the best paradigm shift I have experienced in many years.

“The implicit assumption in discussions of these issues is that a given economic and political system should be preferred because it improves human wellbeing. ”

The improvement of human wellbeing is rarely mentioned in the diatribes against (or for that matter in favor of) government. The inclusion of this concept in all discussions of how the world ought to be run could focus the mind almost as well as imminent hanging–but w/o the heart-pounding terror. And besides, it would give us a scale on which to determine the success of our efforts in the here and now. (I think it’s reasonable to leave the effect of public policies on access to a given afterlife to individual preferences and beliefs.)

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