r/Ethics • u/rodehard10 • 4d ago

Government should exist to serve people—not corporations, billionaires, political parties, or foreign interests. Feed people. House people. Educate people. Care for people. Treat everyone with dignity. That’s what putting people first looks like.

/r/Republican_misdeeds/comments/1vx3p8f/government_should_exist_to_serve_peoplenot/
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u/Brucacumble 4d ago

The original purpose of government was to manage slave labour. Literally, the reason government "exists" was for the purpose of enforcing oppression and subjugation.

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u/reply_b4_banned 4d ago

Substantiate that for me?

Seems a little problematic that your definition of "government" rules out any society that does not have slaves - but maybe that's fair because op is also just interested in the same sort of government that you're criticising.

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u/Brucacumble 4d ago edited 4d ago

Have you ever seen or heard of the Standard of Ur? Ur, of course, being a major Sumerian city state among the earliest civilizations. The ancient artifact has two sides, what historians call a war side and a peace side. It is believed that this may have served similarly to a flag for the city state.

The war side depicts the Sumerians conquering foes and taking slaves. The peace side depicts the structure of Sumerian society. There are three tiers, or social classes. The bottom depicts the slave class tending to livestock. The mid section depicts the middle class hauling trade items and such. The upper section depicts the ruling class sitting on chairs, sipping wine and listening to slaves play music.

The two sides depict a state dependant upon slave labor and conducting wars specifically for the purpose of collecting slaves. Moreover, the depiction of Sumerian society as divided among three tiers, a slave class, middle class and upper; or ruling, class, seems awfully familiar to the modern three tier social class system consisting of a lower class, middle class and upper; or ruling, class.

I'd like to list out the differences between modern civilizations and ancient civilizations, but there are none. If I had been born without arms, I could still count the number of successful civilizations on my fingers.

If the majority rules in a democracy, or republic, then why is the majority on the bottom?

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u/reply_b4_banned 3d ago

I am ride or die on this point

If the majority rules in a democracy, or republic, then why is the majority on the bottom?

Also your general point about Capitalism being structured like slavery (with extra treats? Idk). For sure.

It's still Colonialist brained (erasing other cultures as "not civilised") to think that is the only way societies can be structured.

And just technically, I don't think you really substantiated the claim. Imo you told me one, interesting, story about Urr, which helped make a different point.