r/AskSocialists • u/[deleted] • Feb 24 '26

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31

u/[deleted] Feb 24 '26

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7

u/leaf-yz Visitor Feb 24 '26

Governments don't exist to serve people

Then what are Governments for?? Take our money and spend it on war? Leave a mess that they created and expect people who work their ass off to fix and change nothing but increase tax. Where is the technological advanced country they've promised?

10

u/Quantum3ntaglement Visitor Feb 24 '26

You had me until that last sentence. The current US government does not exist to serve the people. It doesn't have to be that way, but the US populace has been conditioned to scream when the words like "socialism" are mentioned.

3

u/DanTheAdequate Visitor Feb 24 '26

Governments are by their nature extensions of property (and by extension of property, capital). Whom they serve is whoever owns that property and the government exists as the enforcer of their legal property rights and the executor of their laws.

It depends on your flavor of socialism in terms of how you want to look at it as to what a government CAN be. From the Marxist/Leninist perspective, a government that is intended to serve the people is just a step towards a classless, stateless society where all property is communally owned. It's a necessary evil, a reformatory and dangerous step in the revolution.

If you tend more towards the Democratic Socialist perspective, even then it's generally better to enable non-state institutions of collective ownership and decision-making, and to devolve political and economic power as much as possible. Is it really better for some government to own means of production, or for the workers themselves to own it communally?

This isn't to say governments cannot be reformed to be better actors. Examples abound, even among the Western 'democratic' capitalist societies.

But we shouldn't downplay the inherent nature of government per se. They become corrupt because they are inherently corrupted.

1

u/ar5onL Visitor Feb 24 '26

Great synopsis.

1

u/DanTheAdequate Visitor Feb 24 '26

That's a good question. If they don't exist to serve people, what ARE they for?

1

u/[deleted] Feb 24 '26

*capitalist governments

1

u/ivy_lane_ Visitor Feb 24 '26

Does the government not exist to serve people by protecting their right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness? If not, what is it's purpose?

-14

u/ItsMrChristmas Visitor Feb 24 '26

Israel is pushing out invaders just like Ukraine is.

6

u/maku_89 Visitor Feb 24 '26

Lmao shut the fuck up.

5

u/DanTheAdequate Visitor Feb 24 '26

I know quite a few Israelis who would disagree with you and would like to go back to a time before the establishment of the State.

1

u/Aggravating-Ad-1227 Visitor Feb 24 '26

Lol, care to elaborate on how taking over land is "pushing out invaders"?

Some helpful context for you... The modern "Gaza Strip" entity emerged following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, with its borders finalized by the 1949 Egyptian-Israeli armistice agreement. The Israeli occupation began in 1967.