I’m not anti government
Kevin has intimated that I am anti-Government people. I am not. I just think that the government has crossed the line regarding where it can and should intervene. What do I want from my government? Here’s where my Libertarian readership will scratch their heads. Here goes:
Public education. Yes, our education is terrible because of many factors (the NEA, some teachers, political correctness, ad infinitum) but there is no other way to cost effectively educate the masses. The major problem is accountability. I read an article once where it was estimated that the costs to fire an incompetent teacher were greater than paying the teacher for 10 years. It’s not beneficial in terms of cash to fire incompetent teachers. And there is no chain of command. No manager should be accountable for an employee they can’t fire. If education administrators can’t fire teachers, we can’t blame administrators. To Hell with our children, apparently. Educating people serves the public good but it needs to be done more efficiently.
Defense. Our government does have a tendency to over do this one a bit. Better safe than sorry is their logic, I suppose.
Roads. I like roads. They are terribly convenient and there is no other way to cost effectively build roads.
Welfare and assistance to the poor. In our society, no one should starve or freeze or be denied medical treatment. I take no issue with welfare as a concept. In application, it is riddled with fraud and abuse. I’m not condoning universal healthcare by any means. If I can pay for my own, then I should be allowed to.
Testing drugs. Food inspections. And other things that promote general welfare (like the Constitution says).
Law enforcement.
Zoning. I think it’s good that they don’t allow a bomb factory in my subdivision.
Enforcing the protection of the rights of citizens.
I am not anti-government. I just think it goes too far. For example:
Stuff I don’t support, click more for a taste; or read the whole blog.
-$50,000,000 added in conference for an indoor rain forest in Coralville, Iowa;
-$1,000,000 added by the Senate for the Alaska SeaLife Center;
-$653,000 added by the Senate to study rainbow trout at the University of Idaho’s Hagerman Fish Culture Experiment Station in Aberdeen;
-$500,000 added in conference for the Hawaii Community Foundation for the Samoan/Asian Pacific Job Training Program;
-$500,000 added in conference for the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay to establish a paper science technology transfer center;
-$300,000 added by the House to assist in creating a database of North Carolina’s agricultural industry to enable a rapid response to acts of terrorism;
-$270,000 added by the House for cotton quality in Clemson, S.C.;
-$200,000 added by the House to the Town of Guadalupe, Ariz. for construction and renovation of the Mercado shopping center;
-$200,000 added in conference for the University of Hawaii, West Oahu Campus, to produce the “Primal Quest” film documentary;
-$150,000 added in conference for the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival in Alaska; and
-$75,000 added by the House for the East Valley YMCA in North Hollywood, Calif. for facilities renovation.
-$18,500,000 added by the House for the International Fund for Ireland;
-$1,000,000 added by the House for the Alabama Supercomputer Education Outreach Program;
-$725,000 added in conference for the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia, Pa.;
-$400,000 added in conference for the New York Botanical Garden’s Virtual Herbarium project in the Bronx;
-$387,000 added in conference for the Whittier Public Library Children’s Area and History Room in the City of Whittier, Calif.;
-$250,000 added in conference for the Cleveland Health Museum in Ohio for exhibits;
-$200,000 added in conference for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland for the Rockin’ the Schools education program;
-$200,000 added in conference for the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh for exhibit and curriculum development for the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum at the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center;
-$50,000 added in conference for the Alaska Moving Image Preservation Association in Anchorage to digitize files/photos/videos of Alaskan history; and
-$50,000 added in conference for the Imaginarium Science Center in Anchorage to develop science exhibits and distance discovery modules.
-$2,000,000 added by the Senate for The First Tee Program in St. Augustine, Fla. to provide affordable access to golf for everyone, especially kids;
-$1,800,000 added by the Senate for the Appalachian fruit laboratory in Kearneysville, W.Va.;
-$1,000,000 added by the Senate for the Alaska SeaLife Center;
-$500,000 added by the Senate for Salt Lake City, Utah for the Pete Suazo Business Center to purchase building space;
-$447,000 added by the Senate for halibut data collection in Alaska;
-$270,000 added by the Senate for potato storage in Madison, Wisc.;
-$250,000 added by the Senate for the Walter Clore Wine and Culinary Center in Prosser, Wash. for costs associated with construction;
-$200,000 added by the House to the Town of Guadalupe, Ariz. for construction and renovation of the Mercado shopping center;
-$150,000 added in conference for the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival in Alaska; and
-$75,000 added by the House for the East Valley YMCA in North Hollywood, Calif. for facilities renovation.
-$500,000 for golf course renovations
-Billions for space travel
-$33 million for the National Animal Disease Center in Ames, Iowa.
-$25 million for the International Fund for Ireland.
-$21 million for the Magdelana Ridge Observatory in New Mexico.
-$7.7 million for the Alaska Wide Mobile Radio Program.
-$4 million for the International Fertilizer Development Center
-$1 million for a DNA study of bears in Montana
-$500,000 for the International Coffee Organization.
-$350,000 for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.
-Unnecessary tunnel: $4B
-$500M for Liberia
-$25M for a tip line on quitting smoking
And a host of unnecessary laws.
February 7th, 2004 at 7:42 pm
Well, actually, quite a bit of that is useful, but anti-Government was probably not clear enough. As per this post, you seem to think two things: government does almost everything worse than anything else, and government has almost no role in creating the economic and social success of a society.
February 7th, 2004 at 9:46 pm
As for 2 things: you’re kinda right on the first one (except that roads and education likely can’t be done better privately). on two, i’d consider welfare and others as a role in economic and social success.
February 8th, 2004 at 11:20 am
The we are probably arguing over a matter of degree 🙂
At any rate, I wasn’t clear enough, and I will fix the post in a minute. I apologize for that.
February 8th, 2004 at 1:39 pm
“The we are probably arguing over a matter of degree”
That was kinda my point
February 8th, 2004 at 9:10 pm
I’m dumb-founded. I had no idea how closely you & I would agree on the proper roles of government, and how well ours performs. I had you figured a little further out to the right than that…
err.. cool.
February 8th, 2004 at 9:39 pm
Looking at your list, and knowing that you are also anti-death penalty (if memory serves), have you ever considered that you might actually be a liberal? There are some who consider themselves liberal who are also pro-2nd amendment and were in favor of the war.
February 8th, 2004 at 9:43 pm
I’m far from liberal. I am pro-gun and anti-tax (typically, because our spending is out of control, taxes could be lower if it weren’t for that) which pretty much means I don’t agree with most liberals. And when it comes down to it, as much as I don’t like Republicans, Democrats are far, far worse.
February 9th, 2004 at 12:47 pm
Actually SA, you are liberal – in its original meaning (from Merriam Webster):
liberalism: a theory in economics emphasizing individual freedom from restraint and usually based on free competition, the self-regulating market, and the gold standard
a political philosophy based on belief in progress, the essential goodness of the human race, and the autonomy of the individual and standing for the protection of political and civil liberties
The term “liberal” has been hijacked by people who are, in fact, socialists and statists (redundancy alert!). Yet many true liberals support these people because they are the ones running the group that isn’t “conservative”. And, like you, there are many true liberals who support the statists that run that other group because the opposing side is run by socialists, not liberals.
At least that’s how I see it.
February 9th, 2004 at 6:40 pm
Most liberals (in the truer sense of the word, not Democrats) that I’m aware of aren’t terribly passionate one way or the other on guns, with some being passionate on both sides of the debate. Liberals don’t like taxes, they simply realize that you’ve got to pay for stuff.
In terms of out of control spending, the rhetoric is on the side of the Republicans. The actual facts are on the side of the Democrats. One need only look at the difference between Clinton’s first two years in office and contrast with the last couple of Bush’s years.