Ah Crap. What have I done?! Libertarian thread #3 coming up...
wrong, people are to dumb to know what to spend money on, so your theory is flawed.
We agree that people are too stupid to know what's important to spend money on, but you're dead wrong in suggesting that it requires a thieving government (And what other kind of government is there?) to decide what to spend the populations' surplus money on.
Without an impoverished lower class there could be infinitely more wealth to put into things like the apollo program... But they'd be done Voluntarily, instead of by threat of imprisonment like they all have so far.
we wouldnt have the medical advances we have today for instance.
Wrong again. Instead of someone in DC deciding what to do with the money they've already stolen from you, why not go onto a website for a cause you care about, say, a website for finding the cure for cancer, and join in with all others who feel the same way... Imagine all the money it could raise when not being sent to the IRS... And now imagine that no big Pharma will exist anymore to STOP a cure from cancer from appearing because that's unprofitable for them.
Or do you believe that Big pharma should be credited with all of these breakthroughs you speak of in the medical field?
...what it comes down to is having a smart government spending money on what is most necessary. Imagine if 50% of DOD resources were spent on technological advance.
The DOD, including DARPA? I hope that wan't your best example...
But how can you even think a "smart government" can spend money on what is "Most necessary?"
What is most necessary for one person is totally not important for another.
If everyone in my family had cancer, the most important thing to me, FAR more important than a space program, is a damn cure for cancer! -It'd be literally a Life-and-death matter for everyone I loved... Yet the government still is going to take cash out of my pockets and put in in NASA's.
Government: Does what OTHER people wants
Your whole family: Dies
Is this better spending? Seriously?
Taking our choice in what to spend all of our money on is always going to be the wrong decision.
Sure, a bunch of lowlifes may squander their cash on unimportant things that help no one but themselves, causing us to reach Mars a few years later than we would have via a government proclaimation, but everyone is happy in the meantime because they are truly free, and no one was thrown in prison when they couldn't pay their taxes!