The 10 best things government has done for us

[jpljr77]

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-10-best-things-government-has-done-for-us-2011-09-26?dist=beforebell">Pretty shocking blog entry. Shocking because of the outlet: MarketWatch.com, owned by News Corp. (through Wall Street Journal).

“The government is the problem,” they say. “The government can’t create jobs.” Or: “The government should just get out of the way.” How many times over the past three — or 30 — years have you heard conservatives (and even a few liberals) say that there’s no role for government in fixing our economy?

They’re wrong, but this constant refrain is having an impact on our political system; it’s narrowing our options as we struggle with excessive unemployment, burdensome debt and wasted lives.

As often as this anti-government cliché is repeated, few politicians actually believe it. Republicans are just as quick as Democrats to ask for federal funding for local projects — funds that they know improve the lives of voters. Despite what they say for political effect, everyone knows that the government can do a lot to create the right conditions for prosperity. There are very few true libertarians in America, people who believe that the best government is no government at all.

Look, don’t get me wrong: I don’t think the government is perfect. Any institution that can execute an innocent man, or fight an immoral war, or steal a whole continent, or reward failed banks can certainly be improved. Government wastes lots of money. Governments can make things worse by introducing perverse incentives for us to do things that are inefficient and idiotic. Governments can be corrupt, heavy-handed, even evil.

But the idea that the American government can do nothing right has become so pervasive that I feel compelled to point out what used to be obvious to everyone: Our democratic government — along with you, me and our ancestors — created the conditions that have allowed private citizens and companies to build a great nation. This land was made by you and me.

If you want this post to restore your faith in humanity, that's fine...just don't read the comments.

[krispos42]

1. Oh, the comments are hilarious.

dreamdragyn 6 minutes ago
+4 Votes

REX:
really? this is what you are basing your entire article on? Essential services?
NEITHER side (conservative or liberal, democrat or Republican) disputes the validity of your 'ten govt best things).

The problem is the removal of essential freedoms and the villification of wealth and those that WORKED HARD to make something of themselves (wealthy) and then have it all taken away to give to the poor with NO return whatsoever on that taking.
NO ONE has a problem with helping other people (as has been seen time and time again when calamity happens), what we do have a problem with is the liberals that DEMAND we give more and more $$$, but REFUSE to stop the fraud, inefficiency and waste that these entitlements and govt spending has deeply imbedded within them.

Who wants to keep supporting programs or people who refuse to improve (when they are able too?)

Hey, dreamer... the Republicans want to PRIVATIZE essential services. You know... things like health insurance for old people? (privatizing Medicaid) The transportation infrastructure? (privatizing highways) The sanitation infrastructure? (privatizing sewer, water, and trash collection) The education system? (charter schools, school vouchers).


And how can the people of America complain that Washington is not responsive to their needs... and NOT point out that the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few FROM the hands of the many give the wealthy few disproportionate influence in Washington and prevents DC from being responsive to the people of America?

And finally... how are the conservatives dealing with "helping" after Irene?

You ungrateful peasants! How dare you question your overlords in Washington DC?! Listen to Rex Nutting (frequent winner of the Most Useful ldiot of The Left awards) when he tells you to worship big government. Do you need more proof? Look what else they're doing for you:

Obamacare HHS rule would give government everybody’s health records

http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/2011/09/obamare-hhs-rule-would-give-government-everybody-s-health-records

So this bothers you? What's your stand on the Patriot Act? So it's okay for government to have all of your communication and financial records to make sure you're not a terrorist?

And what is the government going to do with my medical records? Deny me insurance? Put me in Gitmo for being a domestic terrorist? Surpress any political dissent I might perform? Make me the fall guy in a cover-up? :tinfoilhat:

tiredofdemsalready 8 minutes ago
+1 Vote

Go back to San Francisco and your thoughts about the American Educations System that 70% of every dollar goes to teachers and their grossly over-paid salaies, pensions and benefits that sucks everyone else dry! So much pay for performance. Lets do away with the Dept of Education and all the waste that sits in Washington!

Yeah! Because we want underpaid dumbasses teaching our children instead! Like in Mississippi! We should cut all teachers' salaries in half and make a new tax break for transnational corporations! Because that will create jobs in China, so Americans educated by the underpaid dumbass teachers will have more products to sell at their PT clerking job! USA! USA! USA!

cheapercargreg 16 minutes ago
+3 Votes

No big surprise here...I would expect you to believe this to be true...Rex, building roads is not the only thing we have take from the pages of Roman history....building massive debt just before the collapse of our country maybe the next page if we don't change our course. Most conservative, like myself, love this country...(unlike many of your liberal friends). We have never said we should not have a solid govt. We need and must have one that can function within its own means financially,a strong govt to defend our boarders and protect our national interest. Beyond that the size and scope of our current govt has gotten too big. We are a nation full of "big boys & girls", we can, for the most part, take care of ourselves just fine without govt aid. Thank you very much!

So you admit the Republicans are trying to bring about the collapse of America? After all, 80% of the debt is theirs.

And boy oh boy, I can't wait to take care of myself by taking on private health insurers whenever they screw with me. I'm sure that as a "big boy" I'll just do fine making sure my bank, my health insurer, my car manufacturer, my electricity provider, my prescription drugs, and the dozens of brands of food that I buy are all safe, effective, and well within specs. The private specs, of course.

I love my country and what you people have done to it has broken it. We will be conquered from without because you ARE destroying us from within.

MichaelOfVA 15 minutes ago
+5 Votes

Thomas Jefferson said the government that governs best is the one that governs least. Because the essence of the American Revolution was PERSONAL freedom. Progressives like Nutting hate personal freedom, so they make any stretched argument they can to enlighten us to how government coercion is good for us.

Not buying it.

If the government ("we the people") don't govern us, the corporations will. We live in a world where rapid communication, rapid transport, and industrialization have put us at threat by domination by those with money. The government ("we the people") has lots of it, and so do the transnational corporations. If government ("we the people") doesn't dominate our lives, then the transnational corporations ("they the wealthy") will. And "they the wealthy" aren't electable OR fire-able.

tecnodog 13 minutes ago
+1 Vote

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years. Great nations rise and fall. The people go from bondage to spiritual truth, to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependence, from dependence back again to bondage. Darrell it looks like this is what our government is giving us, When those in office promise everything to everyone ,you can see what stage we are in now.

Except that the rich and powerful have discovered that they can BUY themselves largess from the public treasury. They do this by convincing many people (the not-rich and not-powerful) to vote against their (non-rich and not-powerful's) own best interest, then dominating the political power structure so they (the rich and powerful) can simply vote themselves largess.

But I guess that doesn't matter to you, does it?

righturn 45 minutes ago
+5 Votes

Politically correct demands at the muzzle of a gun. Federal Government is much easier target for the socialists than the various states so they are dedicated to the growth of the Feds. The Feds can print money and as such demand education and programs we cannot afford. We are now facing the results and they are not pretty.

Hey, cumstain... you do realize that the "socialists" haven't been able to successfully target the federal government as an agent of change for about.... 35 years?

The results you're now facing are from YOUR political and economic policies, not ours.

[Sheepshank]

2. The responses seems to prove the point of the article.

The RW meme will come back and bite them in the arse. Already has in many cases. And the hypocrisy just becomes more evident.

[Scuba]

3. K&R

[HappyMe]

4. k&r