“ACCEPTED WASTE”

“ACCEPTED WASTE” “Accepted waste,” is an accurate definition of government coined by Brian McLaughlin. All government is involved in taking wealth from some Americans and redeploying or redistributing it to others (citizens or not) chosen by politicians and bureaucrats, ostensibly for the public good. What government takes is wasted forever. Sometimes government even performs a necessary service to the community ( but always inefficiently). We would like to believe that politicians and bureaucrats are altruistic, dedicated and selfless public servants who would never take into consideration political affiliation, be self-servicing or bow to lobbying or cronyism. Reality flies in the face of this concept and sticky things called facts back it up. Every thinking American knows the pettiness, corruption, and grasping that is the hallmark of government at every level. Yet, liberals, progressive politicians, and bureaucrats continually tell us that ‘this time it will be different’ when they want a new levy, investment or tax - if only people will give them a little more of the treasure they produce. Long ago, in 1867, Englishman, Sir Louis Mallet’s rightly observed the poor role of government when he said: “... we add to these considerations the singular inaptitude of the governing classes of this country to comprehend foreign affairs, the extraordinary errors which are usually to be observed in their judgements and opinions ....” Mark the words “inaptitude” and “errors ... (of) judgement” and think of the heavy corrupt hand of government coming in ObamaCare. Yes, I know liberals and progressives assure us this time it will be different. In modern days, Robert Heinlein, an American writer and thinker notes: “Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded - here and there, now and then- are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty. This is known as ‘bad luck.’" But today, Pres. Obama assures workers and creators that “you didn’t build that.” In his Second Inaugural Address he assured us that only the collective and not the individual is the road to success. The collective and its handmaiden government trump personhood and freewill. Denials not withstanding, the goal of the Obama administration is to make us a nation of takers and not makers. About 46 million people get government help in the form of food stamps. That's roughly 15 percent of the population and a 50% increase from just a few years ago. In Fayette County, I see it proudly proclaimed that 50% of our students are on the government school food program. What happened to the bowl of Wheaties for breakfast and a baloney sandwich for lunch? Oh, and the apple. Surely Fayette County parents, you can do better than just turning your kids over to the government? Caring government is not the solution because if you allow them to care, you show that you do not care enough to assume personal responsibility. Don’t you see the very contradiction between the words caring and government? “Accepted waste” means government programs must always grow. How long before it is proposed that we bus the parents to school so they can also have a free government-sponsored breakfast and lunch? Are the parents no less hungry than the children? Will government eventually bring in Fido and Fluffy in for a nutritious, well-balanced pet breakfast and lunch? Then we can all sing, “ Oh, Happy Day” to the collective. From utopian communities of the 19th century to the Soviet Union and now European socialism, the history of the collective has been failure after failure. Is Obama’s goal to allow America to slip back into abject poverty so as to prove once again the inaptitude of the collective and government? Many times incompetence of governance becomes a source of pride for its liberal or progressives supporters. For example, Nancy Ward, Administrator at FEMA, recently justified FEMA’s incompetence by saying, “It doesn’t always work out the way we intended but we never stop trying.” Isn’t one of the definitions of insanity doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results? That which is surrendered to government is lost forever to the citizens and producers of wealth. “There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him,” says Robert Heinlein. The continual sucking of initiative, wealth and property from the individual and turning it over to self-serving politicians and faceless bureaucrats will only end in the collapse of democracy and individual freedom. What can we do to reject the “accepted waste” of government? To simply say “NO” as Nancy Reagan suggested to drugs is simply not enough. “YES” to a tad more personal responsibility might be in order.