Strong Central Government

After examining how weak central governments in Hungary allowed the oligarchy to ruthlessly exploit the peasantry, Fukuyama writes: "A powerful central government is neither intrinsically good nor bad; its ultimate effect on freedom depends on the complex interplay between it and the subordinate political authorities" (p. 385).

Comments

  1. Anonymous11:47 PM

    I remember I was once suggesting to posters on Mises.Org forums that they should not hold too much contempt for the European Union.

    The European Union has helped curb the power of regional European governments and prevented them from further exploiting their populace. How? It stole away monetary sovereignty from them, and left people more able to plan their financial future, without worrying about possible future inflation to reduce government debt burden. It also prevented them from becoming economic autarkies, leaving people like slaves who are to only buy, sell, or invest in their domestic territory or in entities controlled by their domestic government.

    So I think it is not about how centralized or decentralized a government is, but what serves the interest of freedom and stability. If the path to freedom and stability involves debasing power of local democracies and putting them in the hands of the "Eurocrat elite plutocracy", why not?

    ReplyDelete
  2. @prateek

    Everything you just said is idiotic. The difference between centralized and distributed is very simple: don't put all your eggs in one basket.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well, Avram:

    1) Manners, manners.
    2) Before you call people an idiot, you might note that I WAS QUOTING SOMEONE. I did not say anything at all! If you fail to note things like that, people might start thinking you are idiotic.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Huh? I was talking to prateeksanjay, so you quoting people has nothing to do with anything.

    But you are correct in general, I will be more gentle in the future.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sorry, Avram. I always think it is all about me.

    ReplyDelete

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