I know that may seem to be a dumb question to the readers of this screed, but if you forward it to the less educated and less read and thinking, they may understand. Does government work? I say that the closer to the citizenry a government is, the better it works. The more isolated a government is from the citizenry, the worse it works, and this means that at the federal level it hardly works at all, but at one local level, schools, it is a failure.
Public schools are an utter disaster, as anyone with a modicum of logic will have to agree. The cost per pupil is outrageous, and even in my small town, only 50% of students are doing well in reading, writing, arithmetic, history, or any subject taught. In big cities, the achievements are far less. In wealthier neighborhoods, and schools in those neighborhoods in my town, it is 75%, but that is not the fault of the schools, but of caring parents. They are wealthier, because they have brains, the work ethic, and usually don’t depend on government for anything except Social Security, into which they paid. The old one room schoolhouse was attended by one of my best friends, along with his three brothers in Montana. Each one learned from the other, and they all say it was a superb education. I went to a great private school, and had to finish the last two yeas in a public school. This was 1950-1952, and I took off each Wednesday, never took a book home, and graduated 14th in a class of 173, and was offered a scholarship, which I didn’t take. Even 60 years ago, public schools, run by government, were a disaster.
Medicine, doctors, hospitals, etc, are outrageous in cost, compared to medical costs before Medicare and Medicaid came into existence, over 45 years ago. Thanks government and Congress, both Republican and Democrat, which legislated them into law. I don’t have to rehearse Obamacare to you, because it will destroy the medical profession, cost a fortune, no one will get good medical care, waiting times will be terrible, and if you are old, they may decide not to give you any care at all, but let you die.. Thanks government and Congress of both parties, who voted them into law, except Obamacare was made law without a single Republican vote, and if they have any brains at all, that fact will be used extensively in November.
Economics? That’s easy. The buck has lost 99% of its value, and will lose even more as time passes. I won’t bother you with the 20 cent a gallon gas and $600 Fords when I was a kid, but everyone observes with long suffering, price increases every time you buy anything, rent anything, or order service. “The more of anything there is, the less they will be worth,” Stott’s Law, and that includes dollars, which are being wildly printed, either with computers or physically, to pay the bills run up by Congress of both parties. While “printing” money is factual, technically it is “borrowing,” but the effect is the same; an increase in the currency supply, and is a dictionary definition of “Inflation.” Why do we have inflation and an increase in dollars? Because government, run by both parties, will spend $3.9 trillion this year, and take in but $2.2 trillion from all sources, which means the currency supply will increase by $1.7 trillion fading dollars.
As far as transportation is concerned, AMTRAK loses hundreds of millions a year, whereas before AMTRAK, glorious passenger trains, such as the Super Chief, Capitol Limited, Broadway Limited, City of New Orleans, 20th Century Limited, and similar glorious memories, were all operated by individual railroads. (The suffix ’limited’ meant all Pullman, and no coach). They never made much money, but were a wonderful symbol of the parent company, and were all still running in 1970, when government decided to take over railroad passenger service. Transit companies in major cities, always were privately owned and showed a profit, till the welfare system ruined neighborhoods where streetcars ran, and caused working, responsible people to move out of cities. The remainder were taken over by government and run at huge losses, paid for by taxpayers. Government owns and runs the various airports, and charges airlines far less than their cost to run, build, and operate. If airlines paid for the airports, fares would be so high, that few would fly, which is the way a market should operate. The interstate highway system has cost hundreds of billions, made us dependent on foreign oil, precipitated filthy air, caused hundreds of thousands of huge trucks to be on the highways, and destroyed the jobs of hundreds of thousands of employees in cities and towns which were bypassed by the interstates. The interstates also took freight and passengers from the railroads, who pay property taxes on every inch of track, all buildings, equipment, etc, plus maintain their own safety systems. Government, without our permission, has upset the marketplace in many ways. Are the interstates good or bad? Should airports be subsidized? Government, with Republican and Democrat votes, enable the subsidies. A matter of opinion, now that they have been around so long that everyone is used to them and can’t imagine not having them. When first conceived and built, the opinions were very negative, but that was long ago. The ionterstate’s purpose was supposed to connect cities, but not enter them. That went away quickly, and cities saw huge fine neighborhood cut in half, and pollution became horrendous.
The national parks and forests are a disgrace. Roads in the parks are full of potholes, and the forests are poorly maintained and become fire traps. Privately owned forests are for profit, and they are not fire traps, but are thinned, cared for, and harvested for profit. They are beautiful, money-making, and pay taxes on their property. National forests are government owned, pay PILT (payment in lieu of taxes) to states, at a tiny fraction of their real taxable worth, show no profit, are never thinned or cared for, and burn regularly. I would love to see the national parks sold to private operators who would do what is necessary to show a profit, and that is maintain, improve, advertise, and do everything a profitable business does to show a profit.
Governments always lie about ’prosperity,’ and their cooked statistics make them look good. America is no different that the Nazis telling everyone they were winning the war. Our government tells us we have a bit over 1% inflation, which is a lie. Their figures don’t include food and fuel, and even if they decided to include them, they’d lie about it anyway, I am certain. All government statistics are questionable. They are designed to make government look efficient, good, respectful, and righteous, none of which is an accurate description.
Taxes are so high, and on so many things, that citizens have been blindfolded into thinking that only income and sales taxes are paid. Not so! We are paying taxes on every single thing we buy in multiple levels. The taxes on the wages of every single employee that made what we buy, including the land on which farms and factories sit, property taxes on the entire chain, including even the mines which mine the iron, copper, or other raw materials used in all manufacture. Taxes on the wages, property, and raw materials used to build trucks, trains, roads, electricity, etc. A dollar’s worth of a purchase, might actually have 95 cents worth of taxes, if the entire line, from raw materials, transport, factory, distribution, etc are used. What do the taxes buy? Welfare, foreign wars, endless rules and regulations, bureaucrats by the hundreds of thousands, total inefficiency, absurd laws, greedy politicians, inflation, debased dollars, and the list of columns like this could go on for thousands of pages. The welfare system which FDR started in 1933, has multiplied and fed on itself, with fertilizer from politicians’ votes and approval, so that now, over one hundred million Americans and illegals, now receive a government handout, and this does not include Social Security. Where will it end?
Border security? the US-Mexico border is wide open, and millions cross each year with impunity. The Obama administration has actually invited it! Isis says they will cross our open borders to destroy us. Have Americans voted for the public schools, welfare, foreign wars, endless subsidies, decreasing dollar value, taxes on everything, AMTRAK, huge bureaucracies, endless rules, regulations, open borders, interstate highways, Medicare, Medicaid, Obamacare, and the like? Not one of us, nor our parents or grandparents voted for any of these. We voted for Representatives and Senators who have betrayed the Constitution, our will and trust. Government at the federal level does not work, but is a huge albatross around our collective necks.
Most civilizations last about 200 years it seems, and then die from bankruptcy. Is Obama and Congress fiddling while America burns? Nero supposedly did it while Rome burned. Historic bankruptcies, caused by rulers spending, warring, and doing all sorts of things, which cannot be stopped by the citizenry. That happened to Rome, Greece, Medo-Persia, and even Egypt, probably. America is self destructing, not by me nor you. It is being destroyed by 535 people in Congress who rule, plus a President who signs the bills into law. The citizens try to vote for the correct politician, but they’re all the same it seems, with Republicans being less evil and greedy than Democrats. As our civilization declines, we must not leave the nation, as this is still the best place on earth. Just get out of big cities, bank with small, individually owned banks, support Tea Party candidates, have no debts, and protect yourself with guns, gold, and silver. For goodness sake, don’t ever believe that government cares about you, other than at the ballot box. The police can’t protect you, since they always arrive at the scene of the crime after it has been committed. A gun is the best protection, and not with a ’carry permit.’ If you get one of those, they know who has the guns! Be smart. Get guns, but don’t get a permit to carry one. They’re going to try to get them eventually, and a carry permit gives them an address to get them.