So, my brother has an interesting post on cutting government spending. Its interesting, and here's some of my thoughts on it.
Going off of the Havoc Pennington post, I suppose I'm more in the "cut government by 10-20%." I like the general ideals of libertarianism, but since I view man as naturally flawed, not naturally good (and very distinct from naturally evil) I can never truly support libertarians because I don't trust people enough.
I don't trust the government much either, but they tend to slow things down enough that nothing totally insane happens that often.
It would seem that 21% of the budget going to Defense/War on Terror is high, I personally would much rather see that at 10-15% with no Iraq war, but you can't turn back the clock.
But, as my dad points out, that's only about 1/3 of what is going to programs that only suck more money out of the system. That is the underlying problem of socialist styled programs. France is going broke over its healthcare/welfare/retirement system. Sarkozy has all but said that they can't afford to keep doing things the way they have been.
The problem with entitlement systems or government funded programs is as people live longer and longer, you get more people getting payed out and fewer paying in. It also doesn't help that Congress can't help but raid the "surplus" for things like Social Security as extra spending money. That it hasn't been legislated illegal is only proof of how completely screwed our government is.
Case in point. Listening to NPR the other day it was a story on how the SEC missed the AIG mess. Well, the SEC along with the Commodities watchdog have overlapping duties. But, they don't/didn't communicate well so AIG just played them off against each other. They were interveiwing an excongressman who said he tried to combine them, but the Agriculture committee chairman didn't want to give up the power (and money) from the position.
Why do I share this story? Because the system is broken. Since both parties get elected mainly to stay elected (and attempt to push through what their lobbyists pay them for) real change isn't going to happen.
Our political system, and many of the rulings on "free speech" pertaining to politics almost insures that any plans the government comes up with will eventually end up broken, bloated, and pandering to the rich and or corporately connected.
Don't get me wrong. We spend far too much money in this country as citizens and government. We're going broke. This isn't just our leaders fault.
What IS their fault is they are too interested in getting reelected and/or getting cushy high paying lobbying jobs down the line to do what is right, not what is politically convient or expedient.
The statement both sides want to spend 105% is true. And its going to bankrupt us and slowly push us to 2nd nation status.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I have to admit I have a hard time biting my tongue when confronted by proponents of libertarianism. So instead of complaining about what our government does wrong, I'm going to cover some of the wonderful "big" government programs we have:
Transportation/interstate system -
I dislike cars more than most, but I love the fact you can go between any sizeable city in the nation without really needing an atlas.
Public schools -
I know: plenty of problems. But do you want the libertarian solution where only the wealthy are educated? It's far too close to that as it is! (Don't get me started on Christians abandoning public schools...)
DoD -
I may bad-mouth them and be nearly pacifist, but frankly we live in an incredibly safe country. It scares me to death the libertarian principles Bush applied to our military by relying so heavily on "contractors" (aka mercenaries). I never want "private security contractors" fighting for us. Their motivation is profit, not peace.
Health care -
We have the worst in the developed world and it still could be a lot worse. Medicare is immensely popular, and despite Medicaid having tons of problems we're at least providing some level of insurance to our poor. (Do people not realize we already have a public option? Its just horribly under-funded and needlessly restricted in scope.)
Park system -
I would be surprised if anyone else in the world could compare to our amazing park system. Imagine them in a libertarian society. I'm guessing all the trees of Yellowstone would produce more revenue as lumber than shade for our tent.
Social security -
Yet another program we only ever whine and hear negative news about. Let's take it and medicare away from all the Tea Party people and see who wants to be libertarian then!
Ok this is getting way too long, so I'll just start listing some more:
NASA, OSHA, EPA, FCC, FDIC, FDA, Unemployment insurance, DARPA (thanks for the Internet!)
All of these programs have problems, but so do corporations. Do libertarians really think our country would be a better place to live if Microsoft and GE ran it? More efficient maybe, but efficiency is not what I want my government's #1 priority to be.
Post a Comment