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Comment by hamper653 | Hacker News Reader

> Sorry for pointing out the obvious, but if your country's safety depends on ability to block all forms of private person to person messages, your government has failed in one of its primary goals: providing safety for its citizens.

Sorry for pointing out the obvious, but "providing safety for its citizens" is not, has never been, and never will be a "goal" of any government on this planet.

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> is not, has never been, and never will be a "goal" of any government on this planet.

this is not a productive outlook to have

Your "productive outlook" in this case is mere wishful thinking and campaign rhetoric. It will never come to pass in a meaningful way. The legitimacy of the state is defined by its monopolistic right to use force without meaningful consequence to the institution. It's a difference of degree, but since a government would lose a great deal of its supposed raison d'etre if they actually accomplish the goal, there isn't even an incentive to act on it.

They act on keeping the institutions running, which implies partial citizen safety. With spare resources / generous budget and benevolent politicians, these services can be extended to cover more welfare, with shouldnt exist in the first place, according to you?

the legitimacy of the state is defined by the citizen's willingness to not replace it

You are just very pessimistic and cinic person.

Governments DO HAVE to try to protect its citizens against internal and external threats. Otherwise people will "abandon" the government up to a certain point.

Case in point: When cartels dominated small towns in Mexico, people gathered in small armies (Auto defensas).

Same thing with Zapatistas.

The only purpose of any government, anywhere, is to protect the ruling class (whether they are internal or external to said government).

The US supreme court has explicitly ruled, on several occasions, that the government has no duty to protect its citizens.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeShaney_v._Winnebago_County

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town_of_Castle_Rock_v._Gonzale...

> any government

Proceeds to give example of one of the most oligarchical countries that ignore financial transparency laws on an industrial scale.

Hobbes's Leviathan wants to have a call with you.

Sorry, I’m already on the line with Society. She’s telling me how her signature has been forged on some scam contract.

This is an absurd claim.

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