People conditioned to accept government abuse as compassion


Government is not your friend
Today I'm feeling a little down. Maybe I'm just tired of making the arguments.

Let me share what I posted to one of my lists.

Oh my, a discussion about libertarians.

I suspect that some here misunderstand what a libertarian is.  Mentioning "right wing" and "left wing" reinforces that.  Remember what Isaac wrote about dualism.

I tell people that libertarians want a government that is smaller than absolutely necessary.  There are two big reasons.  First, a big government is good ONLY if your guys call the shots.  It doesn't take much to imagine what happens when "the other guys" run the show.

The second reason is often overlooked, but in my mind it is bigger.  I call it the Somebody Else's Problem Syndrome (in honor of the late Douglas Adams).  When government is in charge, no one is responsible.  For example, earlier someone mentioned the Civil Rights Act, I assume they meant the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  But there was also the Civil Rights Act of 1866, the Civil Rights Act of 1871, the Civil Rights Act of 1875, the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the Civil Rights Act of 1960, the Civil Rights Act of 1968, and the Civil Rights Act of 1991.

If the 1866 act had worked, we wouldn't have needed the others.

Let me put it another way.  If today I could show that the International Doohickies Company was discriminating, would people be willing to take a stand?  Or would they expect the government to Do Something?  Somebody Else's Problem.  Most people never notice it until they're on the short end because there is an Official Solution.

One last thought before I drift off to the shadows again.  If it's "morally right" for government to prohibit discrimination, then is it "morally right" for government to prohibit non-Christian religions?   Use government against someone today and don't be surprised if government forces another's morality on you tomorrow.

—NeoWayland

Believe it or not, one response basically said that was all well and good, at least until the next crisis came along. And they specifically used Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf Oil spill as two examples.

These two instances illustrate government failure before, during, and after the fact.

The levees in New Orleans were supposed to be built and reinforced decades before Katrina hit. Supplies and aid were turned away by government agents. Eventually the government ended up destroying tons of contaminated ice and thousands of uninhabitable (and never occupied) trailers ordered at taxpayer expense.

In the case of the oil spill, law required oil companies to use maps provided by the government, even though those maps were considerably out of date. The "inspections" weren't completed correctly. After the spill, aid was turned away because it didn't meet strict environmental standards or safety standards.

Are you spotting a pattern here?

Government promises that everything will be perfect, but fails to deliver. When something bad does happen, government can't act to prevent it or repair it. And it's never the fault of the government!

Here's one to really think about. That twenty billion dollars seems like a lot to the average citizen. But what if it's something like the tobacco settlement? Big bucks paid now, government defends your interests down the road.

It reminds me of nothing as much as an abusive relationship. And some citizens come back to ask for more abuse.

Government is not your friend.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Mon - July 5, 2010 at 01:20 PM  Tag


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