The Bar Association

[Oddish]

V's words were the condensation of the notion that government should exist at the will of the people, understand that it exists to serve the people's best interests, and know that it is subject to removal if the people feel it has failed. Because it is entrusted with the people's resources, it should use them wisely and efficiently. And it should know that in the end, no one in it is above the law.

 

[Ragitsu]

"afraid"?

 

[Oddish]

And as long as we're talking about V, how did he get the resources to produce and distribute tens of thousands of Guy Fawkes masks and cloaks?

Never mind... Bar Association. For all that he's a hardline Ferengi, Quark and his family sure do a lot to transform things. Quark was right... it WAS the end of Ferengi civilization as we know it.

 

[Ragitsu]

I'd rather a civil servant be motivated by a genuinely benevolent desire to maintain (and, whenever possible, improve) the quality of life for the citizenry, but, then again, I am apparently from the Bizarro Universe (not quite as bloodthirsty as the Mirror Universe).

 

[Oddish]

I'd rather a civil servant be motivated by a genuinely benevolent desire to maintain (and, whenever possible, improve) the quality of life for the citizenry, but, then again, I am apparently from the Bizarro Universe (not quite as bloodthirsty as the Mirror Universe).

Such civil servants are quite common, but they often find themselves so tangled in endless red tape, they can't accomplish the things they want to. Another reason for keeping the government at a reasonable size.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

V's words were the condensation of the notion that government should exist at the will of the people, understand that it exists to serve the people's best interests, and know that it is subject to removal if the people feel it has failed. Because it is entrusted with the people's resources, it should use them wisely and efficiently. And it should know that in the end, no one in it is above the law.

I wasn't aware that V even believed in any government.

 

[Oddish]

He did not say that government shouldn't exist, just that it should fear the people, not vice versa. That quote was actually an adaptation of a statement attributed (falsely) to Thomas Jefferson: "where the people fear the government, there is tyranny. Where the government fears the people, there is liberty."

Here is a more accurate version of Mr. Jefferson's sentiments:
The purpose of government is to enable the people of a nation to live in safety and happiness. Government exists for the interests of the governed, not for the governors. As Benjamin Franklin wrote, "In free governments the rulers are the servants and the people their superiors and sovereigns." The ultimate powers in a society, therefore, rest in the people themselves, and they should exercise those powers, either directly or through representatives, in every way they are competent and that is practicable.

 

[Ragitsu]

"reasonable"