Posted on 11/26/2019 6:31:28 AM PST by karpov
Good news for control freaks and nanny-staters across the U.S.: Americans' support for a bigger, more active government is edging up, potentially creating an opening for politicians and activists who want their countrymen to snuggle in the warm bosom of a nurturing state that provides an ever-greater variety of goods, services, and rules for people's lives. There's just one catch: Americans don't want to pay for it. Support for a big, muscular government falls off a cliff if it comes with a price tag.
"Since 2010, the percentage of Americans saying government should do more to solve the country's problems has increased 11 percentage points, to 47%, and the percentage wanting government to take active steps to improve people's lives is up eight points, to 42%," Gallup reported last week. Forty-nine percent think the government is doing too much, and 29 percent prefer a government that provides just basic services.
Here's the opportunity politicians—especially Democrats—have been looking for as they promise "Medicare for All," student loan forgiveness, universal basic income, government-supported housing, subsidized child care, and more. Progressive standard-bearers Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) have made particular waves with their plans for government largesse, but Pete Buttigieg and others have their own schemes for turning the federal government into Santa Claus with a bottomless bag of gifts.
But a government that provides everything to everybody is going to run up some bills. Oh, you can cut some existing programs and transfer the funds to other programs, but that's hardly going to satisfy the demands of "Americans saying government should do more." More programs and spending will require more resources that have to come from somewhere.
(Excerpt) Read more at reason.com ...
Has there ever been a problem that was satisfactorily resolved by more government influence?
I’m just here for the Free Lunch.
Well it’s not free.
In fact, it will take everything you have, and everything your children will have and everything their children will have, all because you’re a bunch of totally self centered idiots.
Everybody wants smaller government, except when it comes to their pet projects.
Just wait about a decade until people who were taught in the public schools that free lunch IS possible (after all they ate one every day) become an operative voting majority.
Socialism will always be attractive to those who think they can get something for nothing.
And we oldsters remember when free school lunches were sold to voters as necessary to turn the failing students into passing students, because hunger was causing poor grades.
Now we’re paying for free breakfasts, take-home food for the weekends and the summer feeding programs, but there are more failing grades every year, and the only things going up are the school cafeteria budgets and childhood obesity.
Everything the federal government gets into devolves into an expensive boondoggle. Strangely, the “unintended consequences” always make people more dependent and less free.
Government, as the Founders envisioned it, is a necessary Evil.
Government, as applied in the real world by Generations since, is beyond Evil.
An out of control Government consumes Freedom with the blessings of an ignorant Citizenry who have no grasp of the enormous gift our Founders fought to give them.
Franklin had it right, a Republic if you can keep it. He gave it about 200 years as I recall.
For every new encroachment of government, a Stalinist demon gets its wings.
This is probably the impact of millennials, who want cradle-to-grave care and feeding by Daddy Government.
I read that 48% payroll tax is all it will take- until they need surcharges on that amount.
Of course if you are unemployed there are no taxes.
My mother used to get mad as hell just because the school sent home an APPLICATION for the free lunch program.
Now they automatically enroll EVERYBODY to do away with the stigma. This coming generation has been perfectly conditioned to accept socialism.
And of course a VAT.
From related threads…
Patriots need to wake up to the major constitutional problem that nearly all federal domestic spending is based on stolen state powers and uniquely associated state revenues, such revenues stolen by means of unconstitutional taxes, taxes that the corrupt, post-17th Amendment ratification Congress cannot justify under its constitutional Article I, Section 8-limited powers.
"Congress is not empowered to tax for those purposes which are within the exclusive province of the States."Justice John Marshall, Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824.
From the accepted doctrine that the United States is a government of delegated powers, it follows that those not expressly granted, or reasonably to be implied from such as are conferred, are reserved to the states, or to the people. To forestall any suggestion to the contrary, the Tenth Amendment was adopted. The same proposition, otherwise stated, is that powers not granted are prohibited [emphasis added]." —United States v. Butler, 1936.
In fact, the congressional record shows that Rep. John Bingham, a constitutional lawmaker, had clarified that the Founding States had left the care of the people uniquely to the states, not the federal government.
”... the care of the property, the liberty, and the life of the citizen, under the solemn sanction of an oath imposed by your Federal Constitution, is in the States, and not in the Federal Government [emphases added].” —Rep. John Bingham, Congressional Globe, 1866. (See about middle of 3rd column.)
Justice Brandeis later put it this way about the power of the states to serve the people.
"It is one of the happy incidents of the federal system that a single courageous State may, if its citizens choose [emphasis added], serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country.” —Justice Brandeis, Laboratories of democracy.
Note that constitutional limits on states as laboratories of democracy is that states cannot establish privileged / protected classes or abridge constitutionally enumerated rights, and must maintain a constitutionally guaranteed republican form of government.
The bottom line is that corrupt lawmakers are following the money to DC, a tsunami of unconstitutional federal taxes.
The states will not be able to establish the kind of state social spending programs that a given state’s legal majority citizen voters want until patriots support PDJT in putting a stop to unconstitutional federal taxes.
Remember in November 2020!
MAGA! Now KAG! (Keep America Great!)
"The “Holy Grail” of organized crime is to control government power to tax." —me
"The 16th Amendment effectively repealed the involuntary servitude aspect of the 13th Amendment imo, evidenced by unconstitutional federal taxes." —me
"Congress is not empowered to tax for those purposes which are within the exclusive province of the States." —Justice John Marshall, Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824.
"13th Amendment, Section 1:
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude [emphasis added], except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
"16th Amendment:
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration."
"The constitutionally undefined political parties are basically rival, corrupt voter unions, “union dues” paid by means of unconstitutional federal taxes.” —me
"Belonging to a political party means that you are a subject, not a member." —me
"Patriots need to support PDJT in demanding that Congress moves "April 15" tax day to the day before election day." —me
"The smart crooks long ago figured out that getting themselves elected to federal office to make unconstitutional tax laws to fill their pockets is a much easier way to make a living than robbing banks." —me
"Federal career lawmakers probably laugh all the way to the bank to deposit bribes for putting loopholes for the rich and corporations in tax appropriations laws, Congress actually not having the express constitutional authority to make most appropriations laws where domestic policy is concerned. Such laws are based on stolen state powers and uniquely associated stolen state revenues." —me
I have to hand it to the democrats in their planning of their takeover. The progressive tax code was their instrument of choice and it’s going to make them our permanent masters. When you exempt the bottom 50% of the population from paying taxes they’re always going to vote democrat, they’re always going to vote for more free stuff if someone else is paying. Republicans go along with the constant drumbeat of making the wealthy pay “their fair share”, meaning pay for everything, while half the country pays nothing and receives ever increasing government freebies.
Allowing the tax code to get so lopsided that half the people pay nothing while the other half pay everything has almost guaranteed us a democratic majority government. The more progressive the tax code the more democrats you create.
And the rest want a smaller government, so long as the parts that they like continue to exist.
That applies to Republicans too, in some cases.
Am I understanding you correctly? Are you saying the 16th Amendment is unconstitutional? Amendments cannot be unconstitutional. The 16th Amendment was appropriately ratified so federal taxes are constitutional. To change it you would have to pass and adopt an amendment to repeal the 16th.
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