Despite Misconception, We Conservatives DO Want Some Government

Leftists love to purposefully misconstrue what sort of government conservatives want. Certainly whenever some new big government boondoggle erupts in the typical corruption and waste that is government, conservatives rail against the misappropriation of powers that such boondoggles invariably mean. But when government isn't doing something they want it to do and conservatives kvetch with equal vitriol, the first attack left-wingers charge them with is hypocrisy. The left's taunt, however, is a willful misread of what it is that conservatives are saying in their critique of government.

Unfortunately, many conservatives make this taunt all the easier to level because it seems that they are a bit hazy themselves on just what they should think about the role of government.

Conservatives come by this problem honestly, though. What conservative worth his salt is unaware of Ronald Reagan's famous small government quote: "In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." (Reagan's first inaugural address)...

Good government assures and protects the liberties of citizens. Bad government is a whole lot of the something else we have. I like it when the government picks up my trash, or when it builds roads and fixes potholes. That’s government making it possible for people to go back and forth to work and prosper. Cops are good, when they are good, and far too many of them aren’t. The military is good, especially when it does its job, like keeping insurgents on the other side of our borders. Courts, yeah, ...it’s better than mob rule, most of the time. I love good government, in the measure it takes to make government good, and not a bit more. Good government can keep the banks honest, businesses honest, if it does its job. Government running banks and businesses means corruption, extortion, taxes, waste and failure. Government can make certain BP and others do all they can to fix the oil mess, but I would rather have BP and others fixing it than government. I’m even glad that Obamao is golfing and not gulfing.

So then allow we, the Suntrade Institute, as a rigorously conservative think tank, to be very specific:

The US federal government can be cut 40%, but in parallel there is some function for it, very specifically referred to in the US Constitution as "enumerated powers".

Subject segmental actions include:

Elimination of the entire Dept of Education. The predominant history of the United States included NO federal dept of education, whereby the States and local jurisdictions oversaw the endeavor, and the results were measuably superior to the existing case.

Elimination of major segments of the US Dept of Agriculture's Farm Bill, including guaranteed subsidy for farm products, and including elimination of food stamps, given there are virtually infinite other sources for inexpensive food accessible through modern means of communication (internet).

Elimination of any federal subsidy for private enterprises, from Goldman Sachs to General Motors, given that they have elected to produce a product which supposedly is in demand, and can compete (globally), in the same atmosphere of open communication available to ALL citizens.

On the other hand, we do want "government" to enforce the laws which protect the responsible taxpaying citizens who pay for it, such as rigorous defense of an invaded southern border, and deportation and penalty for those who violate the legal sanctity of the nation.

Are we hypocritical yet?

There is an underlying arrogance in this article, and the LEFT, that says we as US citizens are unable to identify the rot that infects the US federal government.

Make me Johnny Suntrade a Senator (where I get obscene benefits for management of government) and we will finger very specifically the leftist cesspool which has been created in a totally self-consumed, arrogant, and corrupt federal administration.

It just so happens that virtually all legitimate US citizens can and will construct their own pathway to prosperity once the crutch of dependence is removed. To think otherwise is the very arrogance, disrespect,and extortion, endemic to the LEFT.

Johnny Suntrade, the Suntrade Institute

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.