Something to think about

[Guest]

A friend sent this to me. Seems to be a pretty accurate assesment.

The U.S. Post Service was established

in 1775.You have had

234 years to get it right and it is BROKE.

Social Security was established in

1935. You have had 74

years to get it right and it is BROKE.

Fannie Mae was established in 1938.

You have had 71 years to

get it right and it is BROKE.

War on Poverty started in 1964. You

have had 45 years to get

it right; 1$ trillion of our money is confiscated each year

and transferred to

"the poor" and they only want more.

Medicare and Medicaid were established

in 1965. You have had

44 years to get it right and they are BROKE.

Freddie Mac was established in 1970.

You have had 39 years

to get it right and it is BROKE.

The Department of Energy was created

in 1977 to lessen our

dependence on foreign oil. It has ballooned to 16,000

employees with a budget

of $24 billion a year and we import more oil than ever

before.

You had 32 years to get it right and it is an abysmal

FAILURE.

You have FAILED in every

"government service" you

have shoved down our throats while overspending our tax

dollars.

AND YOU WANT AMERICANS TO BELIEVE YOU

CAN BE TRUSTED WITH A

GOVERNMENT-RUN HEALTH CARE SYSTEM??

[karl]

You have FAILED in every

"government service" you

have shoved down our throats while overspending our tax

dollars.

And there are libs right here on CA who are in favor of trusting politicians with large amounts of tax money to "redistribute."

We've gotta have a lot more conservatives in office.

Vote out the Dems completely. Get rid of the "moderate" Pubs. If a candidate doesn't have a concrete plan to slash defense and entitlement spending, send 'im packing.

[Guest]

Exactly

[Dr. Shane]

The government has done a good job at defending the nation. In over 200 years of history, we have only lost one war. It has done a good job of building and maintaining an interstate highway system. It has done a good job of increasing job safety in many industries. It has done a good job of increasing food safety. It does a good job of protecting the consumer from getting shorted by scales and balances. The list could go on and on and on. Our government does a good job on many things.

[karl]

The government has done a good job at defending the nation. In over 200 years of history, we have only lost one war. It has done a good job of building and maintaining an interstate highway system. It has done a good job of increasing job safety in many industries. It has done a good job of increasing food safety. It does a good job of protecting the consumer from getting shorted by scales and balances. The list could go on and on and on. Our government does a good job on many things.

How do you know, without anything to compare it to? Much faith here, Shane. Only if the gov does better than competing private enterprise can you truly say it is doing a good job. Otherwise, all you can say is that it does a job. The one instance we have of private competition with the government - the USPS vs Fedex or UPS - the USPS loses.

[Dr. Shane]

No, we can look around the world to nations that have private militaries and private police forces. We can look at nations where the private sector is in charge of food and job safety. The government does a much better job of policing than the private sector does.

[karl]

No, we can look around the world to nations that have private militaries and private police forces. We can look at nations where the private sector is in charge of food and job safety. The government does a much better job of policing than the private sector does.

Be sure and sell that to the companies that pay handsomely for private security in addition to paying plenty in taxes for police protection. Wonder which service they value?

[Dr. Shane]

Private security is often made up of former police officers. Where did they get their training? Some companies even pay the police department to provide them dedicated officers.

[karl]

Private security is often made up of former police officers. Where did they get their training? Some companies even pay the police department to provide them dedicated officers.

Relevance, please? You are begging the question. The fact that a company needs to hire private security, even if they hire former circus clowns, means that they cannot depend on the government for security. You think they enjoy spending extra money for security?

It is well known that the police offer the populace almost zero real-time protection from criminals. They catch 'em later if at all.

[Dr. Shane]

The government provides police protection for all of the public. Many companies want police protection just for them. So where do they go to get the best security officers to work for them? The go to government-trained police forces. That tells me the government-trained police forces must be pretty good. Of course they are. Don't believe every talking-point that comes out of the mouth of Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck or Levin. Government does a good job in a lot of areas.

[bonnie]

The government provides police protection for all of the public. Many companies want police protection just for them. So where do they go to get the best security officers to work for them? The go to government-trained police forces. That tells me the government-trained police forces must be pretty good. Of course they are. Don't believe every talking-point that comes out of the mouth of Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck or Levin. Government does a good job in a lot of areas.

Don't recall Beck specifically on the topic of our police force but both Hannity and Limbaugh are staunch supporters of police officers.They have never made a "talking point" of the police dept.

The head of all government did come out and say a police officer acted stupidly while at the same time saying,"I don't know anything about the topic I am addressing"

[Dr. Shane]

The conservative talking heads normally say the only thing government does well is national defense.

[bonnie]

The conservative talking heads normally say the only thing government does well is national defense.

The top liberal talking head is the only one I recall coming out publically and using the word "stupid" aimed at a police officer while admitting he didn't know what he was talking about.

You seem to spend a great deal of time listening to "conservative talking heads" and being concerned about their them. I know it may surprise you but a conservative is not as easily bought as some by the words of another.

More and more the ordinary citizen is paying attention to what is going on around them politically and what it will mean to their families and the country in general.

[Dr. Shane]

Coming back to the topic. The government does a great job at a lot of things. It needs to approve on some but there is a lot of waste in any large organization.

[bonnie]

Coming back to the topic. The government does a great job at a lot of things. It needs to approve on some but there is a lot of waste in any large organization.

It does very little economically or efficiently. Some things as the police dept is well trained for the most part but it is not a government hack doing the hands on training.That probably accounts for their success.

The government does not need to worry about the economics of a situation or a efficient use of time and resources. They simply take more from the taxpayer,doing nothing about the cause of the waste.

Strangely enough,they keep taking more and more and the deficit in any area rarely ever decreases.It just goes deeper in debt.

Watch what happens with the numerous tax hikes. It will be another slush fund as Social Security and Medicare

[karl]

The government provides police protection for all of the public. Many companies want police protection just for them. So where do they go to get the best security officers to work for them?

There are multiple private security training facilities in the US.

Your faith in government never fails to astound me, Shane. You think bureaucrats are gods or something? They put their pants on one leg at a time. They do not have to turn a profit. Cronyism is rampant. There is little concern for the bottom line.

Again, all you can really say is that they do a job. You cannot say they do a good job unless they are beating out the competition in quality and efficiency.

[Dr. Shane]

I have long been amazed at the fantastic, wonderful, outstanding, unbelievable job that the Post Office does. They handle millions of pieces of mail each day and the cases of lost mail are amazingly low.

We have a lot of fantastic bureaucracies. The America the founders started was good for that era in world history. In fact, it was quite progressive. I think one can honestly consider all the founders to be liberals. They had fantastic ideas of protection of private property, democracy via a republic, separation powers, checks and balances, protection of individual rights, etc. For their time, one could not expect more. However that is not to say I would want to exchange living in this day and age with living in that one. America today is as great as it ever has been. We are free, have more protection of our individual rights and are more prosperous than ever.

God bless America and God bless President Obama.

[karl]

I

We have a lot of fantastic bureaucracies. ..... We are free, have more protection of our individual rights and are more prosperous than ever.

God bless America and God bless President Obama.

While I join you in prayers for God's blessings on America and His intervention in affairs of state, not just for this country but for the entire planet, I am quite positive you are in la-la land when you assert that we have more liberty today than the founding fathers designed for us to have.

Via taxation, we have created a new class of slaves. American taxpayers have freeloaders hanging all over them. Corporations, nations, and a multitude of individuals have their hands in the pockets of taxpayers. Your man Obama vows to increase this slavery via deficit spending, which is simply another tax, and via increased income taxes, mandatory purchases, energy taxation, and heaven knows what else.

The revolutionary war was fought over taxation.

Time for another revolution. A conservative one.

[bonnie]

I have long been amazed at the fantastic, wonderful, outstanding, unbelievable job that the Post Office does. They handle millions of pieces of mail each day and the cases of lost mail are amazingly low.

They should be able to run ...fantastic, wonderful, outstanding, unbelievable business.

Any business that does not have to worry about the bottom line and making a profit should be able to produce. When a business can just go stick their hands in the pocket of the taxpayers it should not be that difficult to succeed.

Wonder how they would do if they were on the same playing field as the private businessman?

Government is not efficient in handling the money of others.Social Security and Medicare are good examples. Just another slush fund for the politicians to spend. A wait of three months is not that unusual for our DR to be paid by medicare.You try not paying your electric bill for three months and see what happens.

Now Peter is broke and Paul has spent all he has borrowed,where do we go next for the handouts

[karl]

[Dr. Shane]

When the nation was founded women did not have the right to vote. Slavery was legal in half of the nation. Religious and racial discrimination was legal. There was no minimum wage. Employers were not required to provide a safe work environment for employees. Worker's compensation laws did not exist. There were no laws against domestic abuse. Liberty has progressed quite a bit since then.

[bonnie]

When the nation was founded women did not have the right to vote. Slavery was legal in half of the nation. Religious and racial discrimination was legal. There was no minimum wage. Employers were not required to provide a safe work environment for employees. Worker's compensation laws did not exist. There were no laws against domestic abuse. Liberty has progressed quite a bit since then.

The liberties we have enjoyed were within the framework of the constitution.Where necessary it has been amended.

The founders were light years ahead of their time.

[Dr. Shane]

The founders were ahead of their time, true. And we are ahead of their time.

[bonnie]

The founders were ahead of their time, true. And we are ahead of their time.

The basis for everything we need for freedom is in the original documents. Especially the repeated warnings of the "EVILS" a government to big and trying to regulate the lives of american citizens.

But many do follow the thinking of the dem congressman that said "I don't worry about the constitution".

[karl]

Liberty has progressed quite a bit since then.

The market during most of the last hundred years has remained sufficiently open and competitive that it has succeeded in generating capital formation, rising real wages, and an increasing supply of goods and services, in spite of rising taxes, increasing government spending, and a widening circle of government rules and regulations. This gives the illusion of freedom preserved.

In the 19th Century, an American could safely ignore the Government and decide for himself on virtually all matters of behavior. Consider, for a simple example, that throughout human history, if a man was hungry, he would go to a lake, river or stream, cast his line, catch a fish, and eat. About 100 years ago, this simple affair became subject to a license from the government. This sounds rather non-intrusive but it meant that a man was no longer as free as he once was. At the same time, building codes began to spring up, taking away the freedom of a man to build a dwelling as he saw fit. Liberty going away.

You think you own your property and that it is constitutionally protected from unreasonable search or seizure? In the name of fighting organized crime and the drug cartels, the state has imposed forfeiture laws that enable government at practically every level to seize any of your property under the vague suspicion in the mind of a government agent that your property was acquired illegally; and the burden of proof falls on you — the accused victim — to prove that you are not guilty; and even if you succeed, don't expect an easy time getting your property back from the state. Liberty going away.

The federal government has long acted as if the Constitution does not apply when government seizes people's guns. In 1983, Rep. John Dingell, liberal chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, called the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, "a jack-booted group of fascists who are perhaps as large a danger to American society as I could pick today. Liberty going away.

The Federal Income Tax was made law in 1913. Since it was unconstitutional to confiscate part of a person's earnings, the 16th Amendment was passed in order that the government might seize a portion of each person's productive labor. This was a great loss of Liberty. Until this time, each person kept 100% of whatever they earned. There are only two paths to the acquisition of wealth: the production of goods and services that are voluntarily exchanged for the goods and services produced by others (the Free Market); And the seizure of another man's fruits of production by force. Liberty going away.

The state inflicts burdens upon some citizens; while granting subsidies and privileges to others. This results in a loss of Liberty for both classes of citizens—though obviously more so for the tax producer, because this man has the results of his labor confiscated against his will. But also the tax consumer must forfeit some of his Liberty to "qualify" for the largess.

Going, going, .......