I made the following statements at the end of an exchange with a libertarian coworker on one of current favorite fear phrases of Conservatives without Conscience – Gangster Government.
Here is how I see our disagreement.
You believe free enterprise is rational and self correcting. I believe free enterprise is, like any other man-made enterprise – including the government, imperfect and in need of a watchdog. The citizens are the watchdog of the government and the government is the watchdog of corporations on behalf of the citizens who lack the power to take on negligent [or abusive] corporations.
You believe government is the problem. I believe that any man-made institution is as good or bad as those in control of the institution, including small businesses, religion, family, corporations, etc. Man is not perfect and therefore any of his creations are not.
GM and the ‘entire’ economy are in trouble? I think the profits of the defense or oil industries disproves that. Also, Walmart is still making a profit: . If that is not enough, take a look at the profits for the industries listed here: . Healthcare tops the list at 10.84% for the mrq.
As for Bachmann, she is just not a reliable source of impartial information.
“Conservatives Without Conscience” is the title of a book by John Dean from the Nixon administration. It goes into great detail about these politicians, their methods, how they compare to those who helped bring Hitler to power, and how they have become what is often referred to as “the base” of The Republican Party.
You have quite a few one liners – at least one is yours. However, you never validate them with any concrete information. It just looks like your copying from a Rupert Murdoch or Frank Luntz script.
You’re right about the IOUs. This nation has quite a few of them. One reason for that is that we keep cutting taxes – three times as much for the rich (>$200K) as the rest of us since the end of WWII. (I’ll be detailing this lopsided Paris Hilton Tax Break in a blog posting soon.) So, without taxes, we borrow. Without taxes to pay for the problems we create and for the preemptive wars the neocons want, we have to ask the world to pay for our mistakes. Why shouldn’t we the people pay for our mistakes and wars? Because if we had to, we would be less likely to make them in the first place.
Don’t trouble us with taxes. Let me shop. Let me go into debt to keep the money flowing to free enterprise, which will keep it, unless you own stock that pays dividends. I’ve gotten more tax rebates than refunds from shopping.
You’re concerned about to much your money going to ‘big bad government.’ I’m concerned about excessive shopping enabled by free enterprise’s credit cards and equity loans. Household debt is now equivalent to our GDP for the first time since The Great Depression.
You believe free enterprise is the answer for everything. I believe that free enterprise, like government, has its place, but when a moral issue that affects my life, liberty and pursuit of happiness is involved, that moral issue should never be subjugated to profit.
No single death of a citizen is acceptable for the sake of profit and too many citizens have been killed by free enterprise and profit above all else. Those deaths require action by our government, not just the imperfect enterprise that caused them.
Any man made institution can become a gangster without a watchdog.
Andy Hailey