18 Oct 10
2 edits
Originally posted by whodeyI'm looking for specific ideas for making government run better and more efficiently. Even you would agree that there are many things that government has a legitimate role in providing. When the founding fathers spoke of "limited government", they didn't intend for there to be no federal government at all -- the experiences under the Articles of Confederation made that abundantly clear -- and they also had major disagreements among them regarding how much scope the government should have (for example, two of the biggest founders, Hamilton and Jefferson, had very different visions).
The more society runs to government for "solutions" the more "solutions" government will give them. Bit by bit the private sector and individual freedoms will wane until socialism is in full throddle.
Conversely, the Founding Fathers and the Constitution proclaim that government should be limited and let those that are governed live as free as possible. ...[text shortened]... even though they may proport to be able to do so. Apparently you were largely unimpressed.
So I'm looking for good ideas for doing the various things that government does at lower cost - not because someone decided to arbitrarily cut programs - but because someone found a way to improve efficiency. That's the way a private sector business looks at it -- no business owner looks at their business as being inherently evil and declares an intention to make it smaller as an end to itself -- but business owners are indeed always thinking about ways in which they can reduce their spending while also producing a better product or service. They do this by looking at all the latest technological innovations and seeing how they can use them to cut costs.
I'm also looking for ideas for ways of getting the private sector to take over some of the things that government currently does -- IF it can be shown that the private sector will actually do a better job.
18 Oct 10
Originally posted by MelanerpesI am not saying that the federal government does not have a role. Clearly it does. Can you mention the original obligations of the federal government? Now compare that to what the federal government does today.
I'm looking for specific ideas for making government run better and more efficiently. Even you would agree that there are many things that government has a legitimate role in providing. When the founding fathers spoke of "limited government", they didn't intend for there to be no federal government at all -- the experiences under the Articles of Confedera ...[text shortened]... rrently does -- IF it can be shown that the private sector will actually do a better job.
From my perspective things changed once the federal income tax was created. Now we have a money pit in Washington DC that has been for the most part unaccountable and out of control.
I think you will find that large pots of money created in Washington are extremely hard to track and monitor. For example, do you know where all the TARP money went? Do you know where all the stimulus money went? My guess is no one really does for sure. In fact, government steals from social security at will with impunity. They even have cheer leaders on the left for these theives.
Having said all that, I would begin by reducing these large pots of money. I think they want to create an even larger pot of money with cap and trade. There is no end to it.
18 Oct 10
Originally posted by whodeyIntellectuals like Biden?? 😲 If that's your representative of an intellectual, you have low standards indeed. 🙄
Its not just Biden, its everyone who ever voted for these things. Go figure.
I'm just glad we have intellectual giants like Biden at the helm. If they left things to the average Joe people would be dying in the streets!! 😲
18 Oct 10
1 edit
Originally posted by whodeylet's look at the really huge money pots. You can pretty much sum up the entirety of federal spending as follows:
I am not saying that the federal government does not have a role. Clearly it does. Can you mention the original obligations of the federal government? Now compare that to what the federal government does today.
From my perspective things changed once the federal income tax was created. Now we have a money pit in Washington DC that has been for the most ...[text shortened]... hink they want to create an even larger pot of money with cap and trade. There is no end to it.
1. Social Security
2. Medicare & Medicaid
3. National Defense
4. interest payments on the national debt
These four things account for a large majority of the total federal budget -- so if you really want to significantly reduce the size of the federal government, you're going to need to significantly reduce the size of these programs. Perhaps we need to be having a real national conversation about what precisely needs to be done about these things. It would be nice if conservatives (and liberals) were putting forth some new ideas that would re-energize what has become a stalemate on these issues.
Do we need to raise the retirement age? -- should we means-test social security and medicare benefits so that only people who need them will get them? -- should government be offering incentives to get people to save more of their own money and thus be able to make do with fewer social security & medicare benefits? -- and does anyone have any ideas about how to stop healthcare costs from rising so rapidly?
Are there any weapons we're building that no longer make sense for today's military? -- are there any military bases that have outlived their usefulness? -- how many of our troops can be brought home? -- should we be demanding that other nations' militaries play a bigger role in dealing with global threats? Should we look for new ways to train non-college people for jobs instead of relying on the military to do a lot of this?