Lots of "conservative" folk talk about horrible intrusion of government into their lives. I have not experienced a lot of that. Our government, elected by me and my fellow citizens, has, in many instances, enriched my life and my liberties. Of course sometimes I am in the minority and have to accept, temporarily at l;east, government action/inaction with which I strongly disagree.
"Instead of talking in abstractions, let's talk about HOW government controls our lives and HOW big business controls our lives, with concrete examples. And I'm talking about how we LIVE our lives, day in, day out. Government, that is, the laws created by our elected representatives in government and enforced by the agencies those representatives also created, tells me I can't do a lot of things but I honestly can't remember wanting to do something the government told me I couldn't do, except get into a national park campground after dark one time. If I were a male and got drafted to fight a war I didn't believe was moral or necessary for national defense, I'd definitely have a problem with "big government" as many young men did in the Vietnam era.But here's how big corporations (and small businesses) have kept me from doing things I DID want to do. Back in the "old days" before "big government" passed a law or two, I wanted to get a credit card in my own name to establish my credit but the banks said I couldn't because I was a married woman. I also wanted to take a one-month leave from my job when our first child was born, but my employer said I had to return to work as soon as my doctor said I was recovered from childbirth (that is, no longer "sick" under their sick leave policy) or lose my job. My husband and I were evicted from our rental apartment when our baby was born and it was perfectly legal for landlords to refuse to rent to adults with small children. More recently, I wanted to buy our diabetic son some health insurance to help pay for his life-saving insulin and other medicines but NO insurance company would sell him any.In all these examples from my real life, "big government" stepped in and made laws to enable me to do things I wanted to do, things that were very important to me. So these are my examples. Let's hear examples of how government has prevented you from doing something important to you."- Laurie Craw
Like many other posts of this sort this one elicited lots of comments. I usually enjoy it when friends like Howard, Sam, Laurie start commenting.
Comments:
Sam Burnham
Edward Snowden's revelations.
TARP
No Child/Common Core
2nd Amendment violations
Income taxes that over half don't pay.
Tax dollars spent on corporate welfare
Federal courts overturning state laws
War, war, war, war
NAFTA
Guantanamo- still going like the Energizer Bunny.
$3.42/gallon
No third or fourth party allowed in debates
Politicians with immense power over my life that appear on no ballot in my state (the reason we started with a republic with weak federal and strong state govts)
That's a start. I guess I'm an equal opportunity complainer. Washington, not just a single party, is the problem.
Terrell Shaw
Whoops… wuzn't through wit this, how'd it it get posted? Oh well…
All of these that are the result of laws were passed by our representatives, though I would like to see us make the Senate more representative and do away with the Electoral College and the return the filibuster to a real one.
TARP - (a Bush program) 97% repaid and may have saved us from a depression.
NCLB - a bad bipartisan program
Common Core - Mostly Common Sense
2nd Amendment violations - huh? Not a single gun taken from any law-abiding citizen yet
Income taxes that over half don't pay - but those half still pay lots of other taxes, and the folks who are paying are paying a smaller percentage than before 1980 and their percentage of the wealth is greater.
Tax dollars spent on corporate welfare - has been moderated some, but I agree
Federal courts overturning state laws - Article VI
War, war, war, war - We have made several mistakes here, but we have elected the guys who did it.
NAFTA - a mixed bag but my guys' should not have gone along with this. They did, and at the time so did I. Note this, it doesn't happen often: I wuz wrong.
Guantanamo- still going like the Energizer Bunny. I hope we'll take another stab at closing it soon.
$3.42/gallon - OK I guess some govt taxes are part of this, but we need roads and bridges and such.
No third or fourth party allowed in debates - Is there any govt involvement in organizing debates? Usually news orbs and LWV and other private groups set the rules I think.
Politicians with immense power over my life that appear on no ballot in my state (the reason we started with a republic with weak federal and strong state govts) - When we had that horribly weak fed under the Articles it was a horrible failure. Madison and Co definitely wanted to replace that with a strong federal govt with plenty of checks and balances within it, and a balance between it and the states.
Sam Burnham
The electoral college is the last stronghold of the old republic. I'm not surprised that it comes under attack from liberals. Granting 5 or 6 states the numerical ability to elect the president of a 50 state republic is probably the least fair thing that could possibly be done with legislation.
Sam Burnham
And the Senate should still be elected by the state legislatures. The founding fathers designed it that way for a reason.
Terrell Shaw
I can see some value in giving small states some special power, but the huge discrepancy b/w Wyoming and California is just too much. It is anti-republican in my book. Not that any change is coming there anytime soon.
Terrell Shaw
The Great Compromise was a wonderful thing. It allowed our republic to come into existence. But it WAS a compromise and made our republic something less than a true republic, and may have been a very long-term time bomb. When one senator from Wyoming (less people than Cobb County GA) can stifle our entire legislative branch we end up with the disfunction of 2014.
Terrell Shaw
You are in good company with some of the founding fathers (not all) who were very distrustful of the "people" at large. I am a small-r republican to my toes. I always want the broadest franchise and the greatest equality among citizens. I see no advantage in placing a state legislature filter between the people and their senators.
Terrell Shaw
Now, trying to repeal the 17th is bad enough, but if you go after the 19th Amendment, I'm telling Leigha.
Laurie Craw
Sam, judging from your list, I guess I didn't understand your anti-government perspective from the git-go. I thought you felt that government is controlling YOUR life and restricting your freedom in some ways, but apparently you just feel that the federal government (not state?) is involved in too many things in general. That's another debate.
Sam Burnham
Laurie, yes, the Federal government is too big and is involved on things it was never intended to be involved in. Most of it should be abolished.
On the contrary, the House is designed for the people, the Senate for the states. It would be unfair to bring Wyoming (first to pass suffrage) into the Union without giving it equal protection in the Senate.
Now, if you want to take power from ranchers and farmers and redistribute it to incredibly rich people and corporations in places like New York and California, that's the right course to take.
Sam Burnham
And actually, I'm in line with Founding Fathers like Jefferson, Patrick Henry and Sam Adams that were so trustful of the people that they were willing to leave governing power close to them, to maximize their influence over it as opposed to the Hamilton model of placing it in an ivory tower of strong centralized government.
Howard Smith
Fortunately, for all of you our founders wrote a living document, that both endures and adapts, and created a government, based on law, if not always in practice, and that is, if imperfect, still elected by us....for better and worse....and it only demands of us to make it work better in its pursuit of the common good our earnest participation.
Sam Burnham
So long as the creature doesn't evolve into another entirely different organism,
Howard Smith
That is called evolution and we have to adapt to change so, yes, the "organism" will change, too. and WE THE PEOPLE can and do and will create the future if we survive.
Terrell Shaw
Time out: Though I disagree mightily with you, Sam, I appreciate your willingness to use argument rather than vitriol to express yourself. Too many of us on all sides use that famous argument "[Fill in bad guy, bad idea, failed effort, straw man here] _________________ stinks therefore all you say in nonsense." So thanks for the polite debate.
Time in: Although I certainly believe in simple truths that don't change, I realize we live in complicated times, a diverse society, and a crowded planet. IMO Fifty "sovereign" states are not governable in a way that protects liberty, the environment, physical safety (from domestic & foreign dangers), reasonable economic security, etc.
I am glad that the founders realized that the wholly states-controlled govt of the Articles was a failure. We needed a federal govt and it needed power. I'm also glad they wrote in many checks and balances and divided the powers.
And I am glad that as history has progressed the system they wisely instituted for growth and change has allowed us to expand the franchise and make our Republic more responsive to ordinary Americans.
But as we've grown, inequalities that result from the Great Compromise and the Electoral College have become more pronounced. I see no reason for the ranchers and farmers in WY to have fifty times the influence in the Senate of the ranchers and farmers in CA. That's TOO much. In 1789 Rhode Islanders had about a 10 to 1 advantage over Virginians. Still bad. Useless argument, of course, but there it is.
Sam Burnham
And so many before us in other nations across the world have me believing that last "if" is very big. That is why I stay concerned
Sam Burnham
I'm not much for vitriol for vitriol's sake. I even try to find positives in people I disagree with and respect them in that way. This came in handy during this past summer's visit through Plains and Warm Springs.
Reason, argument and truth. As much as I disagree with the President, "Not Obama" is not a political philosophy. You have to know why you are for and against someone. That's why I'll never vote for either of our senators for any seat under any party, ever. I don't agree in practical application of stated belief. I want less talk and more action.
GWB spoke of smaller government and added an entire department to the federal government. Really? Words should equal actions. Too many folks telling me it's raining when I know better.
No comments:
Post a Comment