On Monday, February 27, 2023 at 7:55:17 PM UTC, ltlee1 wrote:
https://www.dw.com/en/has-tunisias-democratic-transition-reached-a-dead-end/a-64814972
"The worst fears of Tunisia's President Kais Saied's political opponents turned into bleak reality this month, when at least a dozen politicians, activists, and critics weredetained and labelled as traitors or criminals by Saied.
Among those arrested by the Tunisian police were Issam Chebbi, head of the opposition Republican Party, prominent Saied-critic Ezzedine Hazgui, and Chaima Issa and Jaouhar Ben M’barek, both leading members of the National Salvation Front, Tunisia's
coalition of oppositional parties."
The well known slogan is "No taxation without representation."
The opposite, No Representation Without Taxation, is more widely applicable. Besides taxation, continuous war of aggression is an excellent catalyst toward democratic representation.
Let me quote Joseph Stiglitz's quote on freedom:
"For economists, a natural measure of freedom concerns the range of things one can do. The greater one's "opportunity set," the freer one is to act. Someone on the verge of starvation – doing what they must just to survive – effectively has no
freedom. Viewed this way, an important dimension of freedom is the ability to realise one's potential."
While Stiglitz's above quote is about individual freedom, the same could be said about government as a provider of public goods.
In general governments are not for-profit organizations, its freedom, or its ability and capability to provide public goods are limited
by taxation. And if only a small number of people are providing most of the revenue, the government for sure cannot be as
democratic as the people wish.
Real democracy is not about voting for developing nations, it is about development. Hence Amartya Sen, another Nobel Prize winner
in economist, had written the book "Development as Freedom". Economic development increases citizens' ability and capability, their
paying appropriate amount of tax would increase the government's ability and capability in providing public goods per citizens' needs
and desires.
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