Posted on 07/11/2012 1:20:10 PM PDT by DannyTN
You are either naive about the nature of government, young, or you are a spy from the DUmp.
To repeat for the 1,000,000 time -- governments can and never will do "it well." Please read Milton Friedman and listen to the speeches of Reagan.
Government by it's very nature is obscenely wasteful of OPM (other people's money). By design government programs always grow.
There are NO market mechanisms to measure the performance of these programs.
We have about 40M people on Foods Stamps. Anyone with any view of reality would know the vast amount of those people could do fine without them. But the government wants to ensnare as many people as possible -- it provides growth to government and power over the people.
I believe in Liberty and the goodness of a free people. You always seem to be rabid in your support of an activist Federal government.
Private charities will always be superior to ANY and ALL government undertakings.
Imagine 20 years ago, turning over all cell phone development and production to the Federal government. We would still have brick phones. The government would have no incentive to innovate and be efficient. The government would have no fear of going out of business -- no competitors.
We would not have smart phones, or tablets or new VLSI device developments. We have all these nice things because fellow humans work at different companies working hard to product products that other humans desire.
These companies are judged by profits which is nothing more than the votes of people with their dollars. The marketplace left alone provides the greatest benefits to the people.
The innovation in the healthcare industry will soon be destroyed by Obamacare and the 13,000 pages and more of government red tape. Bureaucrats will soon infect and destroy what is left of the best medical system in the worlds. They will squash competition and risk-taking.
How is that going to help the poor or needy?
Every single big problem our Republic faces is the direct and purposeful result of government action -- be it in Education, Health, Energy supply, the Housing market, etc.
I find it strange that you reject scripture’s recommendation so cavalierly after specifically requesting it.
Perhaps the National Center for Policy Analysis will provide you with a chance to be less profane in support of injuring the economy ‘for the good of the poor!’
“... Using data for the 46-year period from 1950 through 1995, the model finds:
•The tax rate that would have maximized economic growth for the United States is 21 percent of gross domestic product (GDP);
•On the average, the growth-maximizing tax rate is about 20 percent of GDP among developed countries...”
http://www.ncpa.org/pub/st215
Increasing taxes above about 20% to ‘help the poor’ creates more poor that need help!
Now, the Bible doesn’t say that is why 20% is recommended, an atheist would claim ‘coincidence’- since, as you said, something written so long ago couldn’t possibly have relevance to our ‘more complicated society than the farm economies of old.’
More data from the paper :
“Prior to the New Deal, taxes were low in the United States. In 1902 federal, state and local taxes were about 6.5 percent of gross national product (GNP).2 By 1929 taxes had climbed to 10.9 percent of GNP. This number rose steadily up to World War II and then sharply thereafter. In 1950 the total tax burden was about 24.1 percent of GNP; a decade later, it was 27.2 percent. Today [1998] taxes take about 31.3 percent of national economic output. “
I cannot fnd a more recent comparison of US taxation to GNP, only to GDP.
What a relief to hear that. For a while I thought our nation was headed for trouble.
You're not seriously suggesting that the premiums paid cover the cost of these payments, are you? There's absolutely nothing about these programs that deserve the name "insurance". Writing insurance policies is a BUSINESS, intended to make a profit, where the insurance company spreads the risk of occurrence of unpredictable circumstances.
One way to distinguish a true insurance program is to recognize that there is NO company which will write a fire insurance policy on a building which is presently on fire.
Oh, we're headed in the wrong direction alright. But it's not the mere existence of safety nets that are the problem. Nationalization of industries is true socialism and we are seeing it.
That the safety nets can become part of a cloward-piven strategy doesn't excuse the stupidity of electing a communist in the first place.
Try to run a country without taxes. We'll be Somalia in no time. Contrary to certain people's belief, all government is not evil. Scripture describes government as ministers of God.
That's not a defense of big wasteful government. But government can and should exist that is well managed. And if it's not, it's a reflection of our citizenry because we aren't electing the right people.
Actually most private employer group insurance policies, do exactly that. It's just that when they quote a company, they are insuring enough "buildings" that the premiums cover the handful that are already on fire.
“And our reign as rulers will live or die based in part on how we treat the poor and needy as rulers.”
“We” are NOT the government.
It is an instrument of power we form to SERVE us, it is not “us”.
The greatest “us” of America is the free and open society, NOT the government.
Yes, “we” may be judged by how well we treat the poor.
The main ingredient, the first ingredient, the most important ingredient in that “we” is the free and open society, NOT the government.
No, that does not mean there is no role for government in ‘charity’, but it does mean that government is not the first order of that business; nor is it ONLY because of what our Federal government does or does not do that any such judgement would stand. Nor does it mean that just because the government activity is not what someone thinks it ought to be, that does not mean that the greater society is remiss.
We have a Constitution written to establish LIMITED central government NOT in order to prevent tyranny from a king, but from the very democratic government it was founding, and even from some “democratic majority” of us if need be.
Why? Because tyranny from government can only come from kings and dictators? No; because the power of government in anyone hands can become a tyranny.
Thus, in society and the social realm is not to government that we should look first, but last.
Now you are saying we should put ourselves collectively as king? As Christians, we are not to usurp God's place or over rule His command for us. He told us to love one another. He told us to take care of the widows and orphans. We, as followers of Christ are to do God's will and give to the poor. He did not want us to wash our hands of the matter like Pilate and let the govt. do the job for us.
An impersonal govt. can never deal with those in need as well as loving people who are close to the needy and their situations. Stop begging for people to let the govt. become their God. That is the very problem we have in this world today. People would rather put their faith in govt. than in God.
Look to the one who is God and carry out His will. Do as He would have us do. Let God have all the glory. Don't pretend and make govt. the new sovereign ruler and provider that God really is.
I Samuel 8:4-8
4 So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. 5 They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.”The only one we should ever look to in order to provide our needs is God, not man, not govt., not an earthly king.6 But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. 7 And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. 8 As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. (NIV)
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