A Simple Thought.
What do you want with the government? What do you want them to do and what don't you want them to do?
I knew a crotchety old guy who answered that question like this.
Keep the streets straight, clean, and safe and everything else will take care of itself.
I doubt if it's that simple, yet when you think about it, in many ways, that just about sums it up.
Make it possible to live and take care of yourself and most people will. Keep what we share in working order and keep the bad guys away from us and perhaps it will be possible for us to solve most of our own problems.
No it isn't that simple. Far from it.
But maybe it's a good place to start.
I knew a crotchety old guy who answered that question like this.
Keep the streets straight, clean, and safe and everything else will take care of itself.
I doubt if it's that simple, yet when you think about it, in many ways, that just about sums it up.
Make it possible to live and take care of yourself and most people will. Keep what we share in working order and keep the bad guys away from us and perhaps it will be possible for us to solve most of our own problems.
No it isn't that simple. Far from it.
But maybe it's a good place to start.
posted by shoprat at 7:35 PM
5 Comments:
Actually, that's a version of the broken windows theory: If people maintain order and control on the little things, that helps prevent bigger problems later.
There's a lot of wisdom in old sayings like that!
This is very simple. I expect my federal government to do what it states in the Constitution:
"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
Everything else should be decided by the individual states.
BZ
BZ is right, but unfortunately many are twisting this to fit their own agendas. "Form a more perfect union" according to whose idea of a perfect union? The libs seem to think this includes Mexico! Justice and domestic tranquility can also be open to interpretation. Muslims probably believe they are domestically tranquil, at least the men! Whose idea of "justice" and "general welfare"?
I want the government to be responsible for our national security and our infrastructure and stay out of our personal business. I would like to see public schools done away with altogether.
I can't answer that question without a bit of definition or clarification.
WHICH government?
I'm currently finiancing 3 levels of government:
local
state
federal
The unfortunate fact is that they've ALL been usurping each others duties in order to grow themselves, amass more power, and vie for more of my tax dollars.
What I expect of them is quite simple:
feds: armed forces to protect me from invasions by hordes of illegal aliens and terrorists.
Period.
Everything else they're doing is illegal, based on the constitution
State: ensure that local government is working correctly, and provide for large scale policing
Local: mediate between citizens
I don't believe it is the purpose of government to arm a force subservient only to themselves and enforce their ideals of "justice". I don't believe it is their place to supplant private industrynd prevent advancement of science, finance or technology.
And I certainly don't believe that the Framers conceived of slugs making a living off providing unwanted (by taxpayers) services by getting government jobs and growing them at the expense of the taxpayers.
The result of allowing this is an absolutely unbelievable amount of corruption ... rivallinh any third world country and most of the former soviet countries.
but that's just me ...
ya know state's rights was one of the prime divisive causes of the civil war - - the succeeding states from the south were unhappy with the involvement of the federal government in the affairs of the state - - or at least what they considered to be affairs of the state. i imagine that davis and lee and a bunch of the secessionists would roll in their graves if they saw what the federal and state governments have evolved into today.....
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