2013-12-16
Revised 2017
为什么我们需要一个政府
I'm not an anarchist, and it's not just because I have a pro-state gland ;-). It's because we need a state to do many important things.
我不是一个无政府主义者，这不仅仅是因为我有a pro-state gland ;-)，而是我们需要政府去做很多重要的事情
We need a state for:
我们需要政府做如下的事情
providing food, clothing and shelter to the poor
给穷人提供食物、衣服和庇护场所
providing medical care and education to all
给所有人提供医疗和教育
building roads, train lines, water pipes and sewers
修公路、铁路、铺设水管、下水道
funding research, including testing of pharmaceuticals
资助研究机构，包括药品的测试
protecting public health
保护公众健康
defending the nation
保卫国家
prosecuting perpetrators of crimes whether committed on a street or in a bank office
起诉在街头或在办公室犯罪的罪犯
regulating businesses so they don't harm our health or our environment
调控商业公司，确保他们不会伤害公众健康以及污染环境
ensuring workers can form unions; preventing exploitative working conditions
确保工人可以组成工会;抵制血汗工厂
making sure employers don't steal employees' wages
确保雇主不会克扣员工的工资
inspecting foods for safety
检查食品安全
Making sure products contain what they claim to contain and the stated amount, too
确保产品含有其声称含有的成分和规定的含量
banning digital products that do DRM or censorship
禁止带有DRM或者监控的数码产品
reducing CO2 emissions to save us from global heating disaster
减少CO2排放来减轻全球变暖的灾难
ensure that chemical products are not toxic
确保化学产品不是有毒的
and protecting human rights for all
保护所有人的人权
(This list is not meant to be complete or exclusive.)
这份清单不一定是完整的
Doing these jobs costs money, so we need the state to collect taxes to pay for these jobs. The state should make the rich (and big businesses) pay a much higher tax rate because they can afford it. Taxes are bad only when the state spends much of them on war and corruption.
做所有这些工作需要钱，所以我们需要政府征税来完成这些工作。政府应该让有钱人（大公司）负担更高的税率因为他们能够负担的起。如果税的很大一部分都被政府用作战争和腐败，那么征税就是有问题的
We need a state to stop businesses from conspiring to eliminate competition, or becoming so big and powerful that the state doesn't dare regulate or tax them as is necessary.
我们需要政府阻止商业公司联合在一起，阻止他们变得非常的强大有力，以至于政府不敢对其进行必要的监管或征税
Above all, we need a state in order to have democracy, which is the system by which the many non-rich join together to overcome the power of the rich and thus deny them control over society.
最重要的是，我们需要一个民主的政府，民主就是许多不富有的人联合在一起来削弱富人的力量，防止他们凌驾于社会之上
It's not that I implicitly "trust" the state; that question is a side issue. Rather, we can't do without it. Keeping the state on the right path requires paying constant attention, so that is what we must do.
这不意味着我“相信”政府;这个问题是一个次要问题。相反，如果没有政府，我们做不了这些事情。让政府保持运行在正确的方向需要大家参与政治，这也是我们必须要做的
Businesses are terribly dangerous and corporations are psychopaths. Businesses will work people into the ground, while cheating and occasionally killing their customers, if we don't stop them. Each business's CEO will argue that it must regretfully do so because its competitors do. I am skeptical about the regrets, but even if they are sincere, they are no substitute for ending the wrongs.
资本家是极度危险的人物，他们会欺诈客户，如果我们不阻止他们的话。每个公司老板都会争辩说，其他竞争对手也是这样做的，他们不得不也这样做。我对这种态度表示怀疑，但是即使他们是真诚的，他们也不应该这么做
The only systemic way we can be powerful enough to overcome those businesses' power is to join together through a democratic state. 唯一有效遏制资本家权力的制度，就是可以把人联合在一起的民主制度
The US government does many of these jobs badly, and some not at all. This is mainly because businesses and the rich have too much control over the government. In practical terms, it is no longer a democracy: it has fallen under the power of the plutocrats, so it no longer serves to keep them in check. The plutocrats also control the mainstream media, and use them to spread lies and distract people from real issues. They also set up funded lie campaigns--for instance, to deny the danger of tobacco, deny the danger of some pesticides, and deny global heating.
美国政府做的一些工作很糟糕，有些工作甚至都没做。这主要是因为商人和富人对政府的控制太强了。实际上，这也不算是一个民主社会了;政府已经被财团控制了，政府对他们没有约束力了。富豪同样控制了主流媒体，用它们来散播谎言并分散民众对真正应该关心的问题的注意力。他们也雇佣水军来散播谎言——比如说拒绝承认烟草的危害，拒绝承认杀虫剂的危险，拒绝承认全球变暖
The plutocrats don't want us to reclaim control of our government and make it do its many jobs. Therefore, their basic lie is the claim that government can't help people and people shouldn't try to use democracy for their aims. If we believe that, we won't see any solution for our main problem: curbing the plutocrats — and we will give up.
富豪不希望我们夺回对政府的控制权，以便让政府为我们做很多工作。因此，他们的基本谎言就是政府不能帮助人民而且人民也不应该使用民主的权力来达到自己的目标。如果我们相信这些论调，那我们所要面对的遏制富豪的这个主要问题将不再有解决方案——我们将会放弃努力
Americans, don't give up on reestablishing and then using democracy!
美国人民，不要放弃重建政府的努力，让我们使用民主的力量吧!
Although I do not endorse anarchism in the strict sense, I have a sympathy for an anarchistic approach to activities, where the people doing them are free to organize them. This is part of the spirit of the Free Software Movement that I launched,
严格意义上来说，我不赞同无政府主义者。I have a sympathy for an anarchistic approach to activities, where the people doing them are free to organize them.这也是我发起的自由软件运动精神的一部分
I think the ideal society would be one in which we don't need a state any more, because people have learned how to cooperate and treat each other decently without one. To some extent, the Free Software Movement has created an area in which this happens — but it is just a part of the computing field. I don't see any way for this to happen for life in general. Therefore, I reject the views of the Antisocialists. We would be fools to direct our state to neglect many of its vital missions.
我认为理想的社会就是不需要再有政府了，因为人们已经学会在没有人监督的情况下与他人合作，并且友善的对待他人。从某种程度上来说，自由软件运动就已经创造了这么一块地方——但这只是电脑领域的一部分。我还没有在日常的生活环境中看到有这样的情况。因此，我拒绝反社会主义者的观点，如果我们让我们的国家忽视其本该做的事情，那我们就是傻瓜
Noam Chomsky explained how the "tea party" idea that "We want the government off our backs" is used to distract working-class Americans from organizing for the Liberal (social-democratic) policies that they favor when asked.