Here is a photo I took from the Tax Day Tea Party in Providence. It was my first ever protest. Wait, actually it was my second. My first was earlier in the day up in Boston. Jf and I made the trip to both events to show our displeasure with the amount of spending being done by our governments. In fact, I think they were spending way too much money even before they started spending additional trillions of dollars to bail out, well, pretty much everyone who doesn't deserve to be bailed out. And don’t get me started on the pork they added to those bills.
Anyway, it was surprising to us that the Providence rally was much better than the Boston one. We went up to Boston in the morning (there were two in Boston - one in the morning and one in the afternoon) and found it to be fairly well attended, but poorly organized. The speakers didn’t have any amplification beyond a bullhorn, so we couldn’t really tell what they were saying. The Providence event was much better. It was easy to hear the speakers, and over 2,000 people were in attendance. To be honest, I didn’t think there were that many fiscally conservative people in the whole state of Rhode Island. But the speakers were all over the place content wise. One tried to use the writings of Ayn Rand, but it just didn't work. The problem is that it is too easy to get lost in everything that that our monolithic government does wrong.
So I've been thinking about how to describe the problem, as I see it, as simply as possible.
1. Governments do nothing well. Think about it. The DMV, the IRS, the INS, the public schools system, the USPS. The only part of the government that is highly efficient is the military, and that's because politicians don't run it. The only problems our military ever has is when the politicians get involved and either tie their hands or send them someplace we don't belong.
2. Politicians aren’t qualified to fix anything. Most of them are lawyers, which I'm sure is helpful in the actual writing of legislation. Except that they don’t know what they’re doing before they start writing. They’re not economists, and they’re not MBAs. And many of them have never had a real job and have never run anything successfully. So why exactly should we listen to them when they talk about fixing the economy? Letting them play with even more of our money and giving them more power will only make them more corrupt. Take it to the bank (it will give you a reason to go there).
3. Good intentions does not equal good results. Social programs usually sound good. Hey, who wouldn't prefer it if there was no poverty or homelessness or crack babies? But the truth is that government social programs haven’t worked. Giving people money hasn't eradicated poverty, and in fact has made things worse. It’s time to try something new and that might work, rather than spend more on failed ideas that just let politicians feel good about themselves.
4. States rights matter. The federal government is using bailout money to bolster state budgets. But the reality is that they are taking control of the states by doing so (do what we say or we won’t give you any). This is bad. The states are not meant to all be the same. The states should be competing with each other, which gives all of us to right to vote with our feet and move to a state that we like. If they’re all the same, the only way to escape an oppressive state government is to leave the country altogether.
Anyway, it was surprising to us that the Providence rally was much better than the Boston one. We went up to Boston in the morning (there were two in Boston - one in the morning and one in the afternoon) and found it to be fairly well attended, but poorly organized. The speakers didn’t have any amplification beyond a bullhorn, so we couldn’t really tell what they were saying. The Providence event was much better. It was easy to hear the speakers, and over 2,000 people were in attendance. To be honest, I didn’t think there were that many fiscally conservative people in the whole state of Rhode Island. But the speakers were all over the place content wise. One tried to use the writings of Ayn Rand, but it just didn't work. The problem is that it is too easy to get lost in everything that that our monolithic government does wrong.
So I've been thinking about how to describe the problem, as I see it, as simply as possible.
1. Governments do nothing well. Think about it. The DMV, the IRS, the INS, the public schools system, the USPS. The only part of the government that is highly efficient is the military, and that's because politicians don't run it. The only problems our military ever has is when the politicians get involved and either tie their hands or send them someplace we don't belong.
2. Politicians aren’t qualified to fix anything. Most of them are lawyers, which I'm sure is helpful in the actual writing of legislation. Except that they don’t know what they’re doing before they start writing. They’re not economists, and they’re not MBAs. And many of them have never had a real job and have never run anything successfully. So why exactly should we listen to them when they talk about fixing the economy? Letting them play with even more of our money and giving them more power will only make them more corrupt. Take it to the bank (it will give you a reason to go there).
3. Good intentions does not equal good results. Social programs usually sound good. Hey, who wouldn't prefer it if there was no poverty or homelessness or crack babies? But the truth is that government social programs haven’t worked. Giving people money hasn't eradicated poverty, and in fact has made things worse. It’s time to try something new and that might work, rather than spend more on failed ideas that just let politicians feel good about themselves.
4. States rights matter. The federal government is using bailout money to bolster state budgets. But the reality is that they are taking control of the states by doing so (do what we say or we won’t give you any). This is bad. The states are not meant to all be the same. The states should be competing with each other, which gives all of us to right to vote with our feet and move to a state that we like. If they’re all the same, the only way to escape an oppressive state government is to leave the country altogether.
posted by Tony @ 10:40 PM
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