Quote Originally Posted by Jimbean View Post
This is called a social dilemma. People wanted a large public sector as a result of bad philosophy, that being defining liberty as positive (government/collectivist enabled) rather than negative (the absence of initiated force and fraud).

Actually this would result as an absence of initial force (since individuals would not be robbed in order to give to someone else) and allow people to be responsible for themselves. With the exception of market failures (i.e. providing for goods that the market does not have an incentive to do, such as traffic lights) and providing a protection service for people (as well as the extensions, such as people's property) absence of government allows for economic growth. Given some time, this condition improves the standard of living to everyone, thus reducing the need for charity.
I don't know many people who "want large public sectors" for its own sake, that's a straw-man, they want effective governance, freedom, quality of life, size is not a singular concern for many people as it is for you. Even the fact that their sweet-spot for government size is bigger than yours does not mean they want "large" public sector, they just want something larger than yours personal ideas about it. And consequently, people that want small government may not have the competency to implement small government and instead inflate the size of government due to mismanagement. This is largely what happens when people who function only based on ideology get in charge. To me individualism and collectivism aren't meaningful when used as opposing ideological talking points, humans are social animals with identity, which means humans are individuals that form collectives. Many humans want to maintain their identity while being part of a society. How to maintain one's identity and individuality, how to cooperate with others in society are far more important questions than the should or should not. If you don't want to cooperate in society, the system can and often will allow for that especially in modern democracies, however to impose that on the whole of society is not your right or privilege. You may believe certain things strongly, but that neither makes them right or implementable.

Quote Originally Posted by Jimbean View Post
I laughed at this.
Why do you laugh at this, ostracization, exile, jail, solitary confinement all isolate the individual from a society. You can also voluntarily choose to leave a society or isolate yourself from society as well. Go join a commune, go live off the land or in the woods, it matters very little to me. However, I do not want to see any such policies implemented as central policy, as that is the form of tyranny. In effect you're advocating the overturning of existing society and forcing everyone to live under one singular philosophical ideal and that being the only way they can live, that is as a definition the face of tyranny. I prefer a society where individuals can debate over the short term management of society based on whatever philosophical ideals they happen to adopt.

Not everyone wants total individualism, not even you, because for you to accomplish your goals, you would need to group with like minded individuals. And that group would come into conflict with other groups which will fight for what they believe in. Winning this political conflict would result in some level of organization, which will seek to perpetuate its existence.

I haven't heard really any policy changes that would really be implementable from you, is sounds like a lot of rhetoric and wishful thinking. Now matter what people do, there will be undesired consequences, and that won't go away.