Tired of repression...
I thought things in Armenia would get freer, more democratic over the years, but I keep getting proven wrong. You'd think a very strong government and weak opposition would make them feel able to take some open criticism, but that's not the case at all.
The recent firing for the first time in history of an Armenian judge, Pargev Ohanian was because he acquitted a pair of businessmen who had for years been harassed and jailed for complaining that the tax authorities were corrupt, and trying to exact bribes. Of course everybody in Armenia knows this, but also of course, not a single other businessman has come forward to complain with this example.
Recently, Armenia also decided that it would liberalize wire-tapping rules - now, no court authorization is necessary. Lovely. A couple of weeks earlier there was a new law passed that you can no longer simply buy a sim card for your mobile phone without registering your name and address. In other words, they want to be able to track every single person, and every single call. This is supposedly to prevent terrorism, but no doubt it will encourage state terrorism.
And today I read that a "dissident" TV station was raided by tax authorities yesterday. The Gyumri-based GALA TV was one of only two regional broadcasters that agreed to air the speech as a paid advertisement on October 14. 1 week later they were raided. The link and message being sent are meant to be clear.
Let me also say the US is in many ways the same, with the patriot act, reckless wiretapping that phone companies illegally allowed at government request, judges being pressured there, too, Guantanamo, stolen elections (2000 presidential election), etc. Now I don't like to compare Armenia to poor examples, but I just want a little perspective for those who automatically love to think poorly of Armenia.
This all reinforces my belief that government tends towards the evil and repressive, and that the government that governs least, is the one that governs best. As long as the government protects your rights (including your right to a clean environment, competitive market, etc)... then they can butt out of the rest of your life.
The recent firing for the first time in history of an Armenian judge, Pargev Ohanian was because he acquitted a pair of businessmen who had for years been harassed and jailed for complaining that the tax authorities were corrupt, and trying to exact bribes. Of course everybody in Armenia knows this, but also of course, not a single other businessman has come forward to complain with this example.
Recently, Armenia also decided that it would liberalize wire-tapping rules - now, no court authorization is necessary. Lovely. A couple of weeks earlier there was a new law passed that you can no longer simply buy a sim card for your mobile phone without registering your name and address. In other words, they want to be able to track every single person, and every single call. This is supposedly to prevent terrorism, but no doubt it will encourage state terrorism.
And today I read that a "dissident" TV station was raided by tax authorities yesterday. The Gyumri-based GALA TV was one of only two regional broadcasters that agreed to air the speech as a paid advertisement on October 14. 1 week later they were raided. The link and message being sent are meant to be clear.
Let me also say the US is in many ways the same, with the patriot act, reckless wiretapping that phone companies illegally allowed at government request, judges being pressured there, too, Guantanamo, stolen elections (2000 presidential election), etc. Now I don't like to compare Armenia to poor examples, but I just want a little perspective for those who automatically love to think poorly of Armenia.
This all reinforces my belief that government tends towards the evil and repressive, and that the government that governs least, is the one that governs best. As long as the government protects your rights (including your right to a clean environment, competitive market, etc)... then they can butt out of the rest of your life.
posted by Raffi K. at 8:35 AM
6 Comments:
You're sounding like a nice socialist libertarian to me. :)
"Liberalize wire-tapping"? There is nothing liberal about wire-tapping...but it's a funny turn of phrase.
I think only people who live in bad governments want little government, people who live in liberal governments don't mind governments that give back tangible results like health care and social security. When you live in a place with good governance you grow up with a positive few of the power of governments to positively change lives.
Hmmm... certainly some strong libertarian tendencies. I do expect a government to provide health care if they are taxing 30 to 50% of your income like they do in the west - but the US government doesn't even do that, unlike in Europe/Australia. But if I'm able to pay much less taxes, I might prefer to pay for my own health insurance.
Social security I'm not so sure I'm a believer of in general. It creates a vicious circle of elderly riding on the backs of younger workers and changes in population growth cause massive problems. There are better ways to handle this I think.
I was going to write that it was the libertarian in you speaking, but I was somehow anticipated.
I might be described as a somewhat "leftist" based in a Western European country, so my idea of government involvement in economy and social issues is probably quite different than yours.
However, I don't think what's at stake here is how much government one wants in his life, rather how this government works. Whether it is based on the rule of law and established procedures or on the sudden whims of the current ruler and his croonies.
Does a small-sized government tend to be less authoritarian and/or less corrupt than a hypertrophic one? The answer is possibly positive in some cases, but I don't think there's enough evidence to make sweeping generalizations.
I appreciated the 'I just want a little perspective' line.
You're probably right, Skylark. I couldn't think of a good example of a government I knew much about being clean and pursuing the peoples interests, but maybe that's just my ignorance.
The fact that the two governments I know best and have lived under have been trampling peoples rights so gleefully, and economically mismanage/overburden people is what I was going off of.
But I would love to hear about idyllic governments - to be convinced I'm wrong :-)
Eeeew, there's always something in the house that needs to get fixed. I haven't found idyllic governments yet, but I'll let you know once I find and relocate there. :-)
Although you raise an interesting point about the long-term sustainability of the welfare state in terms of demographic trends, I do think that some Western European countries provide some examples of fine-tuning between individual rights and public intervention.
Of course, this is the result of a peculiar kind of economic and social development that you cannot create with a click.
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