Why should government be kept smaller, and restricted to only certain tasks?

[Darkwind]

A smaller government is less competition for the rich. Look at who backs the Kochbaggers.

^^^^ <-- Failed education.

 

[peach174]

Government provides services with low overhead and on a not for profit basis

The people get as much or as little government as they want. Your problem is that most of We The People do not agree with your concepts of limited government

Government is almost always LESS efficient than the private sector. "Low overhead"? You've got to be kidding me. Chicago Metro train conductors get paid 6 figure salaries with benefits, more than 3 times the market value for those wages in the private sector.
News and Investigations Metra's Overtime Express

Privatization means higher quality and lower overhead, because competition and the profit motive promote growth.
Reason Foundation - Annual Privatization Report 2013

CEOs make salaries of tens of millions of dollars. Government executives are capped at $200K

CEO salaries are anywhere on average from 400,000.00 to 700,000.00. A Few get close to one million but not many.
Salaries are different than their bonuses
They get the extra millions from Stock Market increases in their companies called perks and bonuses.

 

[rightwinger]

There are no restrictions on the size of government other than what We the People vote for

In fact, the size of the Federal Government is smaller than it was 50 years ago

 

[Quantum Windbag]

There are no restrictions on the size of government other than what We the People vote for

In fact, the size of the Federal Government is smaller than it was 50 years ago

And the Moon is made of green cheese.

 

[rightwinger]

There are no restrictions on the size of government other than what We the People vote for

In fact, the size of the Federal Government is smaller than it was 50 years ago

And the Moon is made of green cheese.

Actually, it is a gray dust and rock. We brought some of it back.....but that is the subject of another thread

 

[bripat9643]

If there are to be government services, why can't it perform those services efficiently? Because it can't. Hence why it should remain as a protector, not something akin to piglets sucking off a sow. There will always be a runt of the litter. When people want the government to serve them, they don't mean for it to coddle them and hold them by the hand, they mean for it to do their bidding and not its own.

Government provides services with low overhead and on a not for profit basis

The people get as much or as little government as they want. Your problem is that most of We The People do not agree with your concepts of limited government

Government is almost always LESS efficient than the private sector. "Low overhead"? You've got to be kidding me. Chicago Metro train conductors get paid 6 figure salaries with benefits, more than 3 times the market value for those wages in the private sector.
News and Investigations Metra's Overtime Express

Privatization means higher quality and lower overhead, because competition and the profit motive promote growth.
Reason Foundation - Annual Privatization Report 2013

Yeah, that Obamacare website sure was done cheaply and efficiently, wasn't it?

 

[rightwinger]

Government provides services with low overhead and on a not for profit basis

The people get as much or as little government as they want. Your problem is that most of We The People do not agree with your concepts of limited government

Government is almost always LESS efficient than the private sector. "Low overhead"? You've got to be kidding me. Chicago Metro train conductors get paid 6 figure salaries with benefits, more than 3 times the market value for those wages in the private sector.
News and Investigations Metra's Overtime Express

Privatization means higher quality and lower overhead, because competition and the profit motive promote growth.
Reason Foundation - Annual Privatization Report 2013

Yeah, that Obamacare website sure was done cheaply and efficiently, wasn't it?

Government also put a man on the moon

Wasnt in the Constotution either

 

[bripat9643]

Government is almost always LESS efficient than the private sector. "Low overhead"? You've got to be kidding me. Chicago Metro train conductors get paid 6 figure salaries with benefits, more than 3 times the market value for those wages in the private sector.
News and Investigations Metra's Overtime Express

Privatization means higher quality and lower overhead, because competition and the profit motive promote growth.
Reason Foundation - Annual Privatization Report 2013

Yeah, that Obamacare website sure was done cheaply and efficiently, wasn't it?

Government also put a man on the moon

Nasty bastards

Since there were no private moonshots, there's nothing to compare it with, is there?

 

[KGB]

Government is necessary for some things, but should do as little as possible, and should confine itself to important functions that private persons or groups CANNOT DO AT ALL. Examples include National Defense, smoothing the course of interstate commerce with minimal interference in that commerce, conducting foreign relations, setting national standards for money, weights, and measures, dispassionately pursuing and prosecuting criminal behavior, etc.

Occasional events like wars might cause govt departments designed to deal with them, to grow to a size appropriate to do so. But afterward govt must reduce back to its smaller size.

If you feel that government can do something better than private people or groups can do it, that's insufficient reason to grant govt authority to do it. If private people can do it at all, it must be denied to govt unequivocally.

The reason for these restrictions, is that:
(a) Government cannot do anything well, due in part to the fact that no one can compete with it, and will always be rife with sloth and inefficiency;
(b) Government's only ability is to restrict and punish its citizens. This is activity extremely vulnerable to abuse, and capable of damaging and destroying lives by the millions if not carefully watched and restrained.
(c) History grimly shows that when government is allowed more authority than necessary, the imperfect humans it's made of begin to abuse that power, virtually every time. And with time, that abuse only increases, often rising to disastrous levels.

For these reasons, the powers given to government must be carefull spelled out and restricted, with those it restricts retaining full power to change or abolish it.

If the private sector can defend the country better than the government, why have a government run defense department and all else that relates to our national security?

because the private sector can not marshal the resources required to provide the level of national defense needed. The Constitution is also very clear about this subject. It grants this power specifically to government. Plus, there are certain legal authorities attached with national defense. Officers are commissioned by the President to defend the Constitution of the United States. Enlisted personnel are also required to take an oath to do the same. This does not happen in the private sector. Same, more or less with police departments. They are vastly scaled down paramilitary units that have arrest authority granted by local & state populations. The private sector does not have these authorities.

 

[Foxfyre]

A federal government restricted to the tasks assigned to it in the Constitution would eliminate so much unsustainable evil--yes I mean EVIL--and general crap that divides us and creates a toxic environment in our society.

With such a government we would not have concern about:

1. A George Soros or Koch Brothers who use their wealth to influence government.

2. Huge divisions between Republicans and Democrats as we would all share common goals. Our differences would be in negotiating how best to achieve those goals.

3. Whether Fox News is the demon's voice or MSNBC is the devil personified as it is probable that reporters would again be reporting the news instead of engaging in advocacy for this or that party or ideology.

4. Who should or should not be receiving government subsidies or assistance because there wouldn't be any at the federal level.

With such a government we could be enjoying:

1. A true free market system with just enough regulation to keep us from doing economic or physical violence to each other.

2. A citizen Congress of public servants who would serve for a time and then go home to live under the same laws they pass for the rest of us because there would be no advantage or incentive or ability for career politicans and bureaucrats to achieve incredible power and personal wealth at our expense.

3. A President who would see his legacy as controlling costs, balancing the budget, facilitating an efficient and effective military and bureaucracy that would serve the people instead of controlling them, and promoting the general welfare rather than one who would leave his mark as one who created a 'better' society or new world order.

 

[rightwinger]

Modern Democracies do not function at the levels that 18th century aristocrats envisioned

Get used to it

 

[Foxfyre]

Modern Democracies do not function at the levels that 18th century aristocrats envisioned

Get used to it

Why?

I don't choose to 'get used to"

- People using money to buy influence in government because they can.
- Bitter partisanship resulting in contests to see which party can assume the most ridiculous moral superiority and exercise the politics of personal destruction.
- A media that no longer reports the news and keeps the government honest, but one that serves as a surrogate P.R. organization for those in government.
- A nation made weak and dependent by an overreaching government.
- A slow but certain creep toward a system that will assign us our rights rather than a government that recognizes and defends God given rights that precede government.
- Elected, appointed, and hired people who are guided by what will increase their personal power, authority, influence, and fortunes above all other considerations.
- Presidents who see themselves as given dictatorial powers unrelated to the law.

We have done it much better in the past. I cannot believe that we cannot do it better now.

 

[NYcarbineer]

If the private sector can defend the country better than the government,

It can't. Govt is required, to organize and MANDATE the things necessary for defense.

That being true, it is quite logical and reasonable to recognize that the national security of a nation is dependent on far more than just the ability of the government to throw together an army;

the economy, the infrastructure, the technology, the natural resources, the education of people, the health of the people, all of those contribute to a nation's ability to defend itself,

and therefore, all of those, for starters, become the government's interest and jurisdiction,

if in fact the government is responsible for the defense and security of the nation.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Modern Democracies do not function at the levels that 18th century aristocrats envisioned

Get used to it

So true, they prefer to operate at the levels envisioned by 16th century tyrants. They haven't got there yet, but I know you want to.

 

[Antares]

If the private sector can defend the country better than the government,

It can't. Govt is required, to organize and MANDATE the things necessary for defense.

That being true, it is quite logical and reasonable to recognize that the national security of a nation is dependent on far more than just the ability of the government to throw together an army;

the economy, the infrastructure, the technology, the natural resources, the education of people, the health of the people, all of those contribute to a nation's ability to defend itself,

and therefore, all of those, for starters, become the government's interest and jurisdiction,

if in fact the government is responsible for the defense and security of the nation.

Well that and of course your birth control....you want unlimited time on your back with no repercussions......AND you you want us to keep you safe from those nasty brown folk so bent on putting you into a Burka....

 

[KGB]

Modern Democracies do not function at the levels that 18th century aristocrats envisioned

Get used to it

Good thing we are constitutional republic, isn't it....

 

[rightwinger]

Modern Democracies do not function at the levels that 18th century aristocrats envisioned

Get used to it

Good thing we are constitutional republic, isn't it....

Yes it is......and we have decided against "small government"

 

[rightwinger]

The life expectancy in this country has doubled in the last 150 years

It is because "big government" insisted on sanitation, clean water supplies, vaccinations, uncontaminated foods and safety standards

 

[The Rabbi]

If you feel that government can do something better than private people or groups can do it, that's insufficient reason to grant govt authority to do it. If private people can do it at all, it must be denied to govt unequivocally.

Nonsense.

History has demonstrated that a pragmatic blend of public and private sectors is best, with such examples as addressing the Great Depression, World War II, and the manned space/moon program.

Indeed, during the last 20 years, with regard to the fad to ‘privatize’ certain public sector activities, taxpayers have seen little if any in the way savings with no improvement in the quality of public service, as indeed there are some things just best left to government to address.

But to adhere blindly to dogma – left or right – that only government or only the private sector is best-suited to address a given issue, as the OP advocates, is both naïve and counter-productive.

Last, if a citizen believes his government has acted in a manner that compromises his civil liberties, or that exceeds the bounds afford it by the Constitution, he is always at liberty to file suit in Federal court to seek relief.

What sectors have been privatized over the last 20 years? None.
The Great Depression was a failure of gov't policy, not a vindication of it.
WWII was an example of gov't using legitimate powers for defense.
The space program was expensive but a small program in contrast to the rest of gov't.

Every gov't program that tried to do what the private sector did has failed. Synfuels. Ethanol. Green Energy. Schools. The failure of any program is directly proportional to the level of gov't involvement. This is why homschooling is so successful but Head Start is not.

 

[The Rabbi]

The life expectancy in this country has doubled in the last 150 years

It is because "big government" insisted on sanitation, clean water supplies, vaccinations, uncontaminated foods and safety standards

No actually it is because companies had financial incentives to develop cheaper, safer, and better ways of doing things.