http://www.lifetrekcoaching.com/creativity/cy060827.htm

> My well-meaning Congressman sent his constituents a pamphlet announcing his upcoming Open
> Door Meetings. Upon opening it, I found the question “Do you have a problem with a federal
> program or agency?” in bold letters

OK! You hit my hot button!

Yes. The government steals our money in a variety of ways (i.e., inflation, direct taxes that we pay, indirect taxes that others pay for us, shoddy services, services that are imposed, unintended consequences) and then expects us to be grateful to them for “protecting” us. Please, stop! The litany could go on for pages, but, let’s hit three that might resonate here.

Taxes

I assert it IS everyone’s largest single unavoidable unknown variable expense. The Federal Reserve inflates the currency robbing us of (we can argue EXACTLY what the rate is) between 2.5 and 12% per year. Your dollars are rotting in front of your eyes. The direct taxes (sales, income, and estate) steal every time you buy something, earn something, or die. The indirect taxes (i.e., the gasoline tax) is factored into everything you buy hiding it from identification. No one knows for example what portion of that loaf of bread is tax. It’s not all profit for the baker. I have seen plausible estimates that the US tax bite is in the 80% range. You need some complex math to unwind all the hidden taxation. A good proxy is government spending (at all levels) since that has to come from somewhere. Guess where? Remember only people truly pay taxes. Businesses either pass them along or go broke!

Medicine

Medical care in the US, while “better” than the universal coverage schemes elsewhere, is screwed up by gubamint involvement. “My” government and my insurance company have more to say about my wife’s medical care than I do. Example, she has some problems. Testing in and of itself was risky. I “hear about” full body scan. The insurance doesn’t cover it. And, the gubamint barely approves of it. But for 2k$ and a half hour, I was able to eliminate a laundry list of things the docs wanted to test for with zero risk. (Now the docs are trying to think of new zebras to test for!) Those risky tests would have been just dandy with the gubamint and the insurance company would pay for them. See the problem. It’s the golden rule. (He who has the gold makes the rules!) I remember when my Mom had to pay $185 for my appendectomy when I was a kid. It was a LOT of money. (We weren’t rich. I think the family passed the hat.) But there were only a few forms. Insurance was after the fact between her and the insurance company. But it was the model of speed and efficiency. As a matter of fact, I know the family doc gave her choices of who and where with prices and recommendations! Now we are in a health care model that is one step from the Soviet Union. Take it or leave it. And, it costs!

Drugs and the war on drugs

The FDA. Need I say more? It guarantees that people will die. It enforces a medical monopoly that is a tacit conspiracy between the gubamint, the politicians, the doctors, lawyers, and drug companies. Example, if a new drug cures cancer, then it won’t be available for decades of “testing”. Can some one explain to me if someone is dying of say terminal hangnail and I have essence of guano that cures it, then why do we need testing? At one time in this country, we didn’t look to gubamint for protection. Why ain’t people dying of faulty electronic appliances? Underwriters Laboratory. No government involvement. Yet, I can remember the last case of something happening. WalMart protects me by NOT selling anything without a UL label. Just in case I forget to check. Why do I have to go to the doc for a government permit (aka prescription), beg for an insurance company to cover it in their formulary, then find a licensed drug dealer to sell it to me?

The war on drugs is a joke. In the name of protecting us, they are killing and imprisoning us. No one can stop anyone from putting what they want in the body. It’s immoral. It’s ineffective. And, it’s inefficient. If we are free and have inalienable rights, then there is no moral basis for the drug war. People have to be free to make bad decisions and learn from their mistakes. It’s ineffective. They can’t keep drugs out of prisons. How can they keep them out of society? Didn’t we learn from Prohibition? Can’t be done. Even in the USSR, they still had black markets. Where there is a demand, there will be a supplier. It’s economics.  And, the gubamint goes to all sorts of excesses, in the name of “protecting” us. Yet children get killed in rival drug gang shoot outs. When was the last time you saw a shoot out between Bud and Miller? Yup, during Prohibition. Want to end the drug violence, eliminate street dealing, let WalMart do it. Legalize everything. The marketplace will figure out what to do. And no dumb gubamint age rules either. Have you seen how many kids smoke and drink? Eliminate the kool factor and you’ll eliminate they trying this stuff. And, even if they do, they would die from uncut drugs or drugs cut with rat poison. Finally, it’s inefficient. ALL these “controls” add to the cost and delay in the marketplace. It’s guesstimated by people far smarter than me that illegal drugs would be as cheap as aspirin. (Not sure that it would be THAT cheap, but certainly an addict wouldn’t have to rob and hurt people to feed a habit.) The money wasted on attempting to “control drugs” could be better served by “treating” it. And, we wouldn’t have the Drug War nonsense endanger us or our liberties.

— end rant —

Let me just throw in that the gubamint is a study in “unintended consequences”:

=> Federal Reserve  institutionalizes inflation destroying the saving ethic
=> Income Tax makes everyone a slave to the government
=> Prohibition leads to explosion in organized crime
=> Social Security ponzi scheme setups intergeneration & racial sex funds transfer
=> Social Security destroys the multi generational family support structure and puts kids in day care
=> WW2 Wage & Price controls destroy the direct connection between payer and medical provider
=> Medicare inserts the gubamint in every senior citizen’s medical care at a huge cost
=> “minimum wage” interferes in the peaceful exchange of labor for value; impacts the poor worst!
=> “War on Poverty” destroys the Black family and Black Churches
=> “Urban Renewal” destroys stable neighborhoods to create “vertical slums”
=> “War on Drugs” imprisons minorities and destroys our rights
=> “War on Terror” further destroys our liberty

My challenge is “Name ANY government program that works?”

SO the “well meaning” Congressman should be met not with “appreciative inquiry” but citizens with pitchforks, torches, tar, and feathers! No politician is anything but a (most charitable) dupe, con artist, or (least charitable) stupid.

My suggestions (I don’t just talk about it!):

(1) Get and stay mad. Vote against every incumbent. Demand lower taxes (axiomatic improvement) and ending programs.

(2) Investigate and support the Free State Project (Liberty lovers move to NH for freedom!)

(3) Muck up the system. Don’t cooperate. Remember Gandhi. Non-violent non-cooperation.

(4) Go enthusiastically to jury duty. Vote “not guilty” on bad laws.

(5) Support voluntary true grass roots efforts to solve problems. Avoid “big” charity, like the United Way.

(6) Engage others in discussions of free market solutions. Effective compassion. And, do something, not kvetch!

If you have to use force to get someone to do something, it’s – by definition – a bad idea.

IMHO,
Fjohn