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Comment by mindslight | Hacker News Reader

This entire article presumes that the Greek people are responsible for the debts of the Greek government.

Well they elect the government, so yes they are.

Having the ability to cast a vote makes one responsible for all actions of whomever gets elected, plus the entire standing government?

Voting in representative democracy is statistical quality, so no, not one in particular but a nation as a whole. Like in the USA you might not be personally responsible for Iraq war, but as an American, you are.

Of course such property makes it attractive to neglect personal political responsibility. But in some situations, like with Greeks now, it can come back and bite you in the ass.

(Also, read the article - it's not quite about benign populi paying for mistakes of the Government)

To be partially responsible for something, there must be something one could have done that may have prevented it. Please tell me as an American, what I could have done that could have possibly prevented the Iraq war. I'm not asking for monumental results, but at least what would have withdrawn my alleged contribution to the war?

I did read the article, and all of its prescriptions presume that the Greek people are indebted to their government. Is it not possible that the informal economy grows, the government goes bankrupt, but the society (held together by local structures) continues on?

You could not do much I'm afraid, it's sad but it still holds you responsible as part of the group. May sound too harsh, but collective responsibility is acknowledged explicitly e.g. in post-war German ideology. Being taught that in schools might alone make people more considerate of their choices in general.

As for the article, it suggests that Greeks despise and distrust each other in first place. Not sure it's a good starting point for anarchic type of society. Also, notice how the most vocal protesters there were the government workers (who earn triple of the private sector on average).

In practice, they are, unless they can pick up and leave, taking their assets with them. (Any Greeks thinking about doing this, I suggest you do it soon.) It may not be fair, but the last paragraph of the article lays out the choices pretty well. They're all bad, and the people of Greece will feel the pain either way.

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