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| Government |
| Big Government Implodes |
| 2013-07-19 |
| Since at least 1789, America's conservatives and liberals have argued about the proper role of government. Home library shelves across the land splinter and creak beneath the weight of books arguing the case for individual liberty or for government-led social justice. World Wrestling smackdowns are nothing compared with Hayek vs. Rawls. Maybe we have been listening to the wrong experts. Philosophers and pundits aren't going to tell us anything new about government. The one-year rollover of ObamaCare because of its "complexity" suggests it's time to call in the physicists, the people who study black holes and death stars. That's what the federal government looks like after expanding ever outward for the past 224 years. To call the U.S. federal government a black hole is a disservice to black holes, which have a neutral majesty. Excepting the military's fighting units, the federal government has become a giant slug, like Jabba the Hutt, inert but dangerous. |
| Posted by:Pappy |
| #11 "Human shield" - I like that. I too work for a federal agency with explicit Constitutional authorization. We are free to choose whether or not to join the union. I did, thereby also voluntarily choosing to pay dues. Mainly because scientists make crappy managers, and would work us like grad students (100-hour weeks) otherwise. I agree 100% that "you can be in the government and still argue that there are activities that the Government should not be involved in." I do it all the time, and I am not alone. |
| Posted by: RandomJD 2013-07-19 23:08 |
| #10 And I'm not anti-union, I'm pro-choice. Say I have work on my house. If its big work then I want someone qualified and if a union guarantees a level of training then I will want to use a worker from that union and that person will be earning their $20/hr. If all I need is an extra hand or small work, and Joe just wants to make a few bucks here and there, I should be able to hire him at $10/hr. Joe has neither the time or inclination make the union standards, and knows he only is worth $10/hour. My problems occur when union is forced, then Joe is out of work or taken on by the union knowingly sub standard skills and my two person job goes from $10/hour to $40/hour, if I can afford it. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2013-07-19 19:50 |
| #9 Sorry bigjim-ca and swksvoIFF, but you are what I call "the human shields": of course there are certain activities that require Government coordination and enforcement, and I believe the majority are enumerated in the Constitution or are very logical extensions thereof: NIST for standards, the VA because of the specialized injuries sustained by our fighting forces, the NRC because the consequences are too great to leave it unregulated. In fact, my fear of Government interference in medicine is that very loss of independence and review. The problem is the illogic of Liberals: SOME government is good, therefore MORE of it must be better. WRONG. You can still be in the government and still argue that there are activities that the Government should not be involved in. It is simply NOT the case that trimming or reigning in the NSC or the IRSor cutting back on welfare MUST NECESSARILY require the destruction of the CDC or some other essential government function supported by the Constitution, and any Government official who says so should be fired for incompetence and the next one admonished to be smarter. |
| Posted by: Ptah 2013-07-19 18:58 |
| #8 Other than getting to play with big toys and help people, I am compensated by government money in the form of insurance and a very modest retirement fund. That money comes from the government in the form of a fund collected by the government from a percentage of insurance premiums. Also, in the event of things going very wrong, I can find myself under the command of a variety of government organizations. So a portion of my insurance pays for the Union departments, who in turn send as many deligates allowed to vote for the committee members who run the fund, who then agitate for a single official rep for lobbying, which would be de facto Unionization of all state firefighters. Thing is, what works in New York City does not work in Kansas City, what works in Kansas City does not work in Dodge City, and what works in Dodge City does not work in Smalltown. And as it turns out one Union promoter was such a loser he had to get a job in an entirely different state. That's my problem, he wasn't fired, and that's bull. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2013-07-19 13:31 |
| #7 You're a good 'un BigJim, but I fear you are too few. And about that Union..... |
| Posted by: Shipman 2013-07-19 11:24 |
| #6 Bigjim-CA, sorry the acts of others make you feel that way. I have two sincere questions: 1. Did you have a choice in joining the Union? 2. Do you voluntarily pay Union dues? Please don't answer that if you do not want to, and I have to go round up the kiddos, and I will come back and explain how I also am a Federal Employee but not technically part of a Union but am paying Union dues anyways. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2013-07-19 11:01 |
| #5 All govt is not created equal. You cannot compare the agency and mission of the NTSB, investigating plane crashes, with today's EPA, waging war on coal miners. The DOT facilitates interstate commerce and worldwide flight, the IRS is a thuggish boogeyman that the Admin will unleash on you if you screw with them. The people at the Smithsonian or National Archives, workers at the nation's military cemeteries, VA hospital workers, the water pumping teams that dewatered the Sandy mess, Forest Service Firefighters.....I could go on and on. I'm a Federal Employee and fairly proud of what I do. I work hard, make tough decisions that affect the safety of my feds coworkers and flying public and get paid a salary that is nothing to write home about. I do ok, but engineers don't work for minimum wage anywhere that I know of. What I miss out on in pay I feel I make up on things like sick leave that is separate from my annual leave, TSP matching, etc. I am in the Architects and Engineers Union, so I guess that makes me a fat, stupid, annoying, obammy loving subhuman, but think what you wish. I work at facilities full of people just like myself, normal people you would live next to or pass on the sidewalk....not monsters, parasites and hucksters all. The discussion here has gotten more and more bizarre over the last couple of years, I can't remember people ever talking about govt employees this way before Obama took office, but that was before I was a fed. Most feds are career people who have been in the govt since George Bush the 1st or Clinton was in office and have seen Admins come and go. |
| Posted by: bigjim-CA 2013-07-19 10:24 |
| #4 Forever if they like; the value of such is determined by the people receiving such handouts. When that value is negated is when bad things will happen; when it becomes unhidable that promises are not being kept. Then it becomes a question of who stays bought. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2013-07-19 09:49 |
| #3 OK, so what's next? Panic in the streets? Imperial-Rome-like decay? Benefits don't get paid on time, or at all? How long can Congress and The O keep announcing and funding new giveaways? |
| Posted by: Bobby 2013-07-19 06:46 |
| #2 So, Obama wants a "Smarter" Government? A "Smarter" Government would recognize a Parasite (Like You) and get rid of it, QUICKLY. If this means a firing squad, so be it. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2013-07-19 04:39 |
| #1 Henninger nails it. It is indeed all about "social justice", power, and buying votes from a entitlement constituency. The obfuscation and diversion from fact finding and truth displayed this week in the IRS hearings by Congressman Elijah E. Cummings is a clear example. His goal is not to find truth, but to delay, thus insulating a corrupt regime from the discovery process. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-07-19 01:02 |