Two hundred and thirty two years ago a group of men assembled in the Pennsylvania State House, now known as Independence Hall, and signed their names to a letter to King George III of England. In so doing these men committed treason against the English crown, and gave birth the most powerful nation on Earth. This letter is now called The Declaration of Independence
IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
Today we celebrate our independence from England. We celebrate our independence, but we lose sight of what that means. More people today seem to desire that their lives be governed by a large government. Do they really desire a nanny state where everything is regulated by big brother? Where the government takes a huge portion of the money they make to give to others in the name of helping the less fortunate, in the name of fairness. Who gave them that right? Where is that written in the Declaration of Independence?
Slowly, ever so slowly so that we barely notice Washington is taking away the rights that our founding fathers committed treason to ensure. If you’ve been reading my blog you know what I think about politicians.
The United States was founded upon an idea of Limited Government, yet each day it seems that our lawmakers are working diligently to increase the reach of government.
THOSE PEOPLE IN WASHINGTON CAN’T DO ANYTHING FOR YOU!
Only one person can do ANYTHING to make your life better, and that’s the person you see every time you look into a mirror. YOU! You are an independent individual with the power to create any life you desire. Not only do you have the power, you have the responsibility. That is what the Declaration of Independence is all about. Your freedom to “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.
Happy Independence Day America!
Philip,
Do note that welfare is only about 1% of the federal budget. Medicare — medical care for senior citizens, is much more, but it’s likely that all of your aunts and uncles have used it (actually, my Mom resisted, and Pop’s medical insurance was very good, so neither used very much at all). See
http://www.federalbudget.com/
and for a very nice chart see
http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs16/f/2007/124/3/4/Death_and_Taxes__2008_by_mibi.jpg
Note the size of the defense dept the service on our debt. Most of HHS’s budget is medicare and Bush’s prescription drug benefit. The next big part of the budget is the Ag dept: welfare for Con Agra and ADM.
Also, note that it was Lincoln who changed the nature of the federal budget: before the civil war, it really was limited. During the war, the pigs sidled up to the trough, and it’s never been the same since then.
All of this is true. I do have a question though. According to Art 1 Section 8 of the constitution, congress has the authority to coin money. If this is true why does the U.S. need to borrow money? Joe Birdsong had pointed me to an interesting article on this subject. I’ll need to find out what it was again and let you know.
Although welfare is a small part of what I’m talking about, the larger discussion is about things like corporate welfare. What would happen to Con Agra and ADM for example if the agricultural subsidies were taken away? Would the nation starve? Or would all of us rugged individual’s devise some clever way to keep on eating? I’m betting that we would figure out how to keep eating, and that our food supply would probably be better off for it.
Our Government should be limited in scope. Defense is an area where the budget should be big, but the use small. Iraq is a bad fight for us as an example. The budget for building and maintaining our infra structure should be big. Bridges, roads, railroads, reservoirs, and similar projects are vital to our ability to prosper as a nation.
Affordable medical insurance is important. Should the government be in the medical insurance business? I don’t believe so. Typically the government, any government will mismanage its programs. Do we really want the government running our health care? One of the contributing factors to the high cost of health care is the insurance companies. Patients buy insurance or have it provided, and when they go see the Doctor they don’t have to worry about paying the bill. Who determines what the price of the care should be? The insurance companies don’t quibble over prices the way a struggling housewife in Thailand haggles over the price of a chicken so the Doctors, hospitals, and HMO’s tend to charge more. Put payment back into the hands of the patients and patients will learn how to negotiate for a better bargain.
Towards this end I hear a lot of good things about HSA’s. Health Savings Accounts. Typically a family with an HSA has a $5000 deductible. They’ll pay for any services under $5000, and the HSA pays for everything over.
Thanks for reading and commenting. Let the discussions continue.
Coining money rapidly devalues the currency and leads to runaway inflation, a la Germany 1936 or Zimbabwe 2008. On the other hand, markets like stable governments to borrow money, since they earn $$ in the process.
You and I agree on corporate welfare. I suspect you saw it big time firsthand, in the military. What percentage of the military budget is for shiny expensive weapons systems that just make a fatcat donor (to both parties) wealthy, vs. what’s more useful to defend the country (IMHO, boots on the ground or on deck, well paid and taken care of). Our defense budget is more than all our enemies combined, and pays for things like ICBM missile defense that doesn’t actually defend us.
And we agree on infrastructure spending. Note, however, that railroads pay for their own track maintenance, but other transportation (roads, airports, ports) are paid for by the public. Thus fewer railroads, which are more fuel efficient than trucks or planes.
I’m certain that ADM would make a profit if we stopped subsidizing them. Food would get only a little more expensive. But our food system is whacked, too. Read The Omnivore’s Dilemma. I’m sure you’d love it.
Regarding medical insurance, our current system is about the worst you could conjure up, providing LESS coverage for MORE money than any other big democracy system out there. Now I generally agree that this isn’t a normal governmental duty, but its becoming a national crisis, AND WE DON’T WANT SICK PEOPLE WALKING AROUND UNCARED FOR. That’s what’s happening now — people who can’t afford insurance walking around spreading diseases. Unfortunately, self-insurance doesn’t work well, either (putting money back in the hands of patients). No one has the cash to pay for a heart operation on hand. You need an insurance pool. HSAs are an insurance pool. You just have to figure out who underwrites the insurance: the insurance companies, who pull out 20% for profit, or the govt, who pulls out about 0.5% for expenses, if you use the VA health system as an example.