David Simon: 'There are now two Americas. My country is a horror show'

Re:David Simon: 'There are now two Americas. My country is a... by Nursie on Sunday December 08, 2013 @04:24PM (#6871486)

>> He argues that expanding government crowds out non-governmental social activity,

And yet if you look to the past you see that when government does nothing people die in the streets because charity in no way covers what government can now. Particularly for those on the fringes of society, those considered immoral or sinners in some way.

Private social activity absolutely does not do all we need it to.

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Re:David Simon: 'There are now two Americas. My country is a... by crassus on Sunday December 08, 2013 @04:44PM (#6871559)

I find Nock's book more convincing than Nursie's comment, but good try.

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Re:David Simon: 'There are now two Americas. My country is a... by Nursie on Sunday December 08, 2013 @04:55PM (#6871606)

Thanks for your confidence.

FWIW I don't disagree with the premise, state intervention may well crowd out social activity.

But you'd have to be deliberately blind to hundreds of years of human history to make the claim that the social activity did anything like the job our current welfare models (for all their masses of imperfections) do.

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