Trust the Government?
Recent developments in my personal and professional life have me wanting to ask this question of my like-minded Atlas Shrugged fans. In what capacities do you trust your government? Do you trust them to thwart domestic terrorism? Do you trust them to keep food and drugs safe for you and your families? What do you trust them to get right? Anything? I can flesh this out a little more later. Thanks...
Oh wait a minute, you weren't talking about the Italian government, were you?... Let me rephrase that...
I trust them to make it damn near impossible to operate my business, to defend myself, or to actually earn an honest profit, without trying to figure out a way to steal it from me and give it to some freeloader who drives their leased Jaguar to the food bank for their "entitlement" after they've spent their EBT on booze and flash cash at the corner store.
I trust them to make sufficient laws, not by legal means, but by fiat and declaration, that they can, at a time of their choosing, declare that we have fractured some obscure law and have us incarcerated indefinitely when we have been a sufficient thorn in their side by practicing our rights.
I trust them to corrupt our children from fine, upstanding future Americans to worthless moocher socialists through their interference, mandates, and falsifications forced upon them (by threat of coercion and condemnation) through our teachers and our schools...
I trust them to open the gates to those who never earned the right to be here as did OUR forefathers, to those who have no business being here but to prop up their mechanizations and misdeeds, to those who have evil intent upon our citizens, our businesses, our once great nation, and worse, the truth...
If you can read this, you obviously don't have enough tears of sadness, anguish, and shame in your eyes... so read it again.
"When in the Course of human events...... To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world."
10+
Have you given any more thought to my proposal? Oh, never mind, I guess it wasn't really a proposal after all. But I do like your sense of the government.
While I love NZ, the firearm thing makes it not plausible for me. Sadly, Australia is even worse - they want you to register and lock up all your "simulated" (read air-soft and cap-gun) firearms, as if they were actual firearms.
It's funny - I didn't know until a couple years ago (and this after driving various of the Autostrade for a few months out of each year) that they were privately owned by the Benetton family. While they're not the cheapest of toll roads, you *do* get your lire, er, euros worth...
Our largest failing as a nation was in not taking to heart and using the advice of Jefferson, Madison, and Washington as it relates to the rights of the citizenry to stop and change our government anytime it got out of hand.
Government at it's base is composed of individuals that like government, and they want control of things we wouldn't trust friends or even family to be in charge of on an individual level.
The truth hurts. Big governments hurt more.
I trust the Government to TAKE from me the product of MY labor and give it to other people.
I Trust the Government to always do the WRONG thing morally, ethically, financially and legally.
I Trust the Government to NEVER put the best interest of the PEOPLE in first place, but only be concerned about keeping their own cushy jobs and bilking the taxpayers out of as much as they can before they leave office.
1. To make you do something you do not want to do,
2. To keep you from doing something you do want to do, and
3. To take away what is rightfully yours.
I completely trust the government to execute these three responsibilities.
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=snak...
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Yes. I agree.
Jan
<Mirriam-Wesbster>
Selfish
1: concerned excessively or exclusively with oneself : seeking or concentrating on one's own advantage, pleasure, or well-being without regard for others
2: arising from concern with one's own welfare or advantage in disregard of others &amp;lt;a selfish act&amp;gt;
Now lets look at "Rational Self-Interest". This indicates and has been described as a long term strategy. Example: If I run an auto repair shop and am totally selfish, my customers will very quickly learn I do not care about the quality of the work only the profit I can extract. In short order I will not have any customers and this would not be in my "Rational Self-Interest" especially since I might bet prosecuted for negligence in the event of an accident due to the poor quality of work.
If I were "Rationally Self-Interested" I would charge what I could, provide a quality job, to satisfy the customer to generate more business. Am I being Selfish? No. Do I have my personal Self-Interest in first place yes? Is the customer happy? Yes. Let's look at it from the customer. Rational Self-Interest" I take my car to the most reputable shop, pay a higher price maybe, but I am assured I am getting the best my money can buy. Am I happy with the cost, maybe not, but my "Rational Self-Interest" from the consumer side dictates that in the end I will not have to bring my car back in for the same repair and I am now driving a safe vehicle.
"Rational Self-Interest" is not now nor ever predatory in nature, or "Selfish" in the sense the word is being used, nor is it altruistic where one is "sacrificing" ones self for the perceived "greater good."
If we wanted to take this "Rational Self-Interest" to its most extreme level, let's look at Jesus and his death.
Biblical Facts:
1)Jesus had to die to "cover human sins"
2)Jesus, suffered greatly prior to his death
3)Jesus did not want to die, but said, "let not my will but yours take place."
4)God and Jesus loved the world greatly and to the point "God gave his only begotten son."
"Rational Self-Interest"
1)Jesus would be placed at the right hand of God and his name would be elevated above all others.
2)Humans would have the opportunity to live forever
3)Jesus and his "Kings and Priests" would rule to time indefinite.
Now I could go into the result has Jesus decided not to die, but the point is "Rational Self-Interest" is not selfish in nature, one benefits in the end from rational self-interest. Jesus knew way ahead of time what would happen during his time on earth, he also knew ahead of time if he failed, or did not complete his mission. The altruism would have meant that in the end Jesus would have received no reward, no benefit from the suffering he received. Job new God, God's punishments and rewards, and new if he remained faithful he would be rewarded even when all his friends said CURSE GOD and DIE.
From what I can see, looking at this all factually is that "Rational Self-Interest" is a very biblical principal in the context Ayn Rand dcescribes.
Thank you for pointing out my mistake. I actually call it a good day when I make less than 100 of them.
When the individual participants of this nation decide to return to a moral foundation and elect representatives who also support a moral foundation and Constitutional virtues, we may return our country to greatness. I have grave doubts this will happen without a catastrophe, however.
Meanwhile, every American has been inconvenienced by "Homeland Security" to a much greater extent than any terrorists could ever accomplish.
If indeed there is a "War On Terror", the terrorists won a long time ago. And they didn't have to lift a finger.
You managed to condense everyones frustrations and dislike of government into 2 sentences that hit the mark.
Fred Speckmann
commonsenseforamericans@yahoo.com
I trust the gestalt of the American people to be a huge, blind, fumbling, child...until the shit hits the fan and we turn into this awesome tiger-man destroyer hero. It is kinda like having a secret identity, only in this case even WE have forgotten that we have secretsuperpowers.
I have hope.
Jan
required civilian leadership was present. and I used
to trust some of the courts, until Roberts turned on
us. I used to trust the patent office, until I awoke
with the Hallings' help. there isn't much left. -- j
Recently, you probably missed that a CDC PhD, Dr. Bill Thompson, came out and blew the whistle on how they fraudulently altered data in a campaign to convince the public that vaccines don't cause autism. He should know. He did the study on the MMR when the data was altered. About 7 years ago, about 5 years after Bill's adventure, I found out that vaccines were causing an epidemic of encephalitis in children (you can call it "autism"). Clearly, finding such information and then seeing those in government tasked with health covering it up did a lot to bolster my own position that the government can't be trusted. The fact that vaccination, as it's prescribed to infants per the CDC schedule, is dangerous actually isn't a secret. It is a topic whispered between pediatricians...an understood truth.
I have been annoyed by what I see as a religious dedication to any government person in a lab coat, or any department they may represent. It is clear to me that the general public, as a whole, is just one big, fat easy mark.
A couple of years ago I asked a group of people who called themselves Objectivists if they were in favor of forced vaccination. I was surprised to see that at least half were. I remain curious by that result. If you can't trust them to control our borders, fix roads in a timely manner, or prevent payola in Congress...how could you trust them with this?
"In times like these, when their fat little comforts are threatened, you may be sure that science is the first thing men will sacrifice." Dr. Stadler in Atlas Shrugged. I can't think of truer words.
No, I cannot think of one thing I trust government with or to do. The members of government have become looters and parasites themselves. Where once I trusted them to defend us from foreign invasion, I now know they will serve their own power and greed above the the interests of the country. I know they want to relieve us of our property rights, lie to us about climate change, and worst, steal the hearts and minds of our children with Common Core. There really is nothing done best by government. They can't even run a post office!
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