Time to Appreciate Government

[KeithE]

There are 3 pages.

[William Thornton]

Let us now bow our heads and give thanks to Mother/Father gummit for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

[ET]

If a whole lotta gov'ment is good, then more MUST be better, right?? Dude must find it amazing that human civilization advanced to where it did before government "helpers" showed up in the early 20th century.

William, do you think Douglas J. Amy is a pseudonym for Keith or vice versa? Or maybe one or the other ghost-writes for the other.

[Sandy]

This may make it appear that there is an echo on the board, but there are certainly some reactions, especially in this area of the board, that are predictable and unchanging. Be careful, Keith, or you'll get labeled as a Communist in some backhanded way. Well, except for the fact that Communists are notorious advocates of less government.

[ET]

[KeithE]

[William Thornton]

Following Keith's lead:

Problem: welfare; solution: workfare. OK, shall we now require those receiving food stamps to perform some work in order to receive them.

Problem: affirmative action. Solution: job training. We have job training programs by the bushelful, all gummit created and taxpayer funded. Why aren't these sufficient and working already?

Problem: segregation. Solution: better schools. Wow, that was simple. Are you now saying that desegregation should not be a public policy?

[Dave Roberts]

[William Thornton]

Inefficienty and misdirected resources are inherent in government trying to address most national problems. Job training is just one of these. Well meaning legislators try and solve a problem with centralized identification and analysis of the problem. A centralized solution is designed and funded. Bureaucrats are hired to implement the solution. Administrative costs are assessed at every stop along the way and every new pair of eyeballs that looks at the problem and solution is farther removed from what potential recipients really need.

This is why it is much more efficient and effective if you and your church identify the problem and apply a solution.

It's hardly news that government has a poor track record of addressing complex problems like education, unemployment, and health care.
Obama's stimulus, according to his own economists, created jobs at anywhere from a quarter million per to over four million per job. But we properly understood the 'stimulus' as being 'porkulus.'

[KeithE]

[Haruo]

[ET]