To: koan who wrote (51529 ) 8/24/2013 4:07:21 PM From: TimF Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 85487 Koan government is a monopoly. Its not just a monopoly but a coercive one. A cable company may be a monopoly (if and only if you define the market very narrowly, too narrowly in this case IMO), but at least you can just go without the service and the payment. Try going without paying governments. Its rather difficult and the attempt can get you in a lot of trouble, As for largist, that's without a doubt. What company has as many employees, spends as much money, or has a hundreth as much control as the federal government? You constantly forget government is a product of democracy The particular politicians are a product of democracy, the US federal government itself somewhat less so, but then there was a democratic connection to its start. I don't forget that, its just that its irrelevant. If Walmart had a monopoly on all US retail sales, but had its CEO and board of directors determined by a one person one vote for every adult citizen in the US, it would still be a monopoly. Its the same for the government. Voting for the head of the organization doesn't make a monopoly anything else but a monopoly. d WE decide what kind of government we want. WE are in control! That is not the case with corporations! Its more true with corporations than with the government. I get one vote out of many millions for president. The odds of me determining the election are not much greater than me being hit by lighting on the way to vote while holding a winning power-ball ticket. Senate votes have better odds, but my vote still has little impact. House votes the odds are even better, but still tiny. And in both cases I only get to vote for one (one at a time for the Senate) out of hundreds of members of congress. But lets say I don't like Walmart. It doesn't actually have a retail monopoly. I can go to its competitors. I can even organize a boycott of it. I can have even more influence over smaller companies. I exercise my vote every time I buy something, not once every two or four or six years.