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Comment by phyzix5761 | Hacker News Reader

Can we start a non profit where people can donate for things like this so we can actually get funding without relying on government?

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Let's also pool some money to help the sick pay for health care, the young pay for education and those affected by layoffs tackle the transition. Heck, we could even start our own government.

You know what makes the government the government, right?

You’re missing the key piece.

It'll be a government for the people, by the people.

Those people will have to be well-armed.

Don't worry, we'll get help from the French and the Spanish.

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Sure. We don't pay tax to you, though. We can be trade buddies.

Hey, I don't see why libertarians shouldn't join in. This is essentially a guild.

For example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worshipful_Company_of_Security...

Are the libertarians and right wingers going to not use the services they don't want to pay for? Or receive the benefits? Are they going to leave the educated society and start their own somewhere else?

They won't pay for anything but they will receive all the benefits at your expense. That's probably what he meant with win/win.

Such a nonprofit exists, it's called the federal government.

Maybe the super-rich can create their own nonprofit to fund commercial space tourism or whatever absurdity they've deemed so important that it needs spending elsewhere to be cut and diverted to them.

The government has proven to be extremely inefficient at managing our money. Look at how little they care about the trails. If we want actual money to go places we care about we have to do it ourselves.

We can hold non profits accountable in ways that we can't with the government. Accountability in government takes 4-6 years when we get an election cycle. If a non profit is mismanaging funds it takes 4-6 minutes for me to give my money to a different non profit.

At this point why don’t we just go back to the Articles of Confederation.

If we accept the federal government can’t do anything what are we paying taxes for? Get rid of social security too, I’m not going to make it to whatever stupidly high age they raise retirement to.

I used to be a big government liberal, but the problem is eventually people you disagree with start running super government.

The federal government does an amazing number of things despite some inefficiencies. FEMA, FDA, EPA, SEC, FTC, FCC, national defense, interstate highways, border security (for better and worse), social security, Medicaid, Medicare, maintain embassies, foreign diplomacy, etc. As these things are gutted their absence or lack of capacity will be felt for decades.

I’m thinking these responsibilities can be shifted to the states. That’s defacto what’s going to happen as the federal government keeps cutting services.

If I want to live in a high tax state with a social safety net, cool. Others can move to Mississippi pay no taxes and brag about how they have a higher GPD than Spain ignoring the actual quality of life is much worse

Good for them I guess. I prefer a country where I don't have to move as the political winds change, just to maintain rights and benefits my ancestors fought for.

I don't disagree with you, but it's the political reality of the situation being foisted upon us with violence by the far right. That was one of the reasons why I left Texas ASAP in late 2022 when I saw the winds changing.

The systems are cracking and breaking and I think the only outcome is going to be balkanization.

There's no such country. Authoritarianism is always around the corner, because the only thing that really prevents society from slipping into it is broad social consensus that it's undesirable, and you can't guarantee that it will remain long term. Constitutions etc fundamentally are just pieces of paper; they matter only to the extent people choose to believe they do.

Fun fact: Canadian healthcare system, which generally tends to be the envy of US liberals, originated on provincial level and is still run primarily by the provinces.

There are many local, and not-so-local, groups that do this volunteer trail maintenance, and they could definitely use some monetary donations. There is the PCTA, mentioned up-thread ( pcta.org ). I volunteer for Trailkeepers of Oregon, based in Portland, and is active in many parts of the state. trailkeepersoforegon.org . There is also the Washington trails Association, and many more.

That's what I'm encouraging but people wanna downvote because they're convinced government is doing a great job with our money.

This feels like the trend of Americans having to start GoFundMe campaigns for surgeries and health care. (!) I mean, do what you feel you have to do in the urgent moment. But come on. What's the plan? This is not civilized.

You work towards reality tv where you vote on who lives and who dies. Used to be the domain of things like black mirror but the reality is coming far sooner than you think.

What would you suggest? I mean, we have a legitimate government that has been duly elected in what everyone broadly recognizes were free and fair elections. It just happens to be a government of crazies and grifters who our neighbors genuinely believe can save the country (whatever that means to them).

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