>but to point to the current "shutdown" as
>evidence for not needing a Federal gov't is...well, it's stupid.
I quite agree with you that the line of reasoning is a bit dumb. For
instance say, I dunno, medicaid funding was for some reason halted for 9
months. You could then quite reasonably say "well look at that we didn't
need it anyway" or "see the liberals were right, we need it".
However, Greg, whilst it is 'pretty dumb', I don't think it is 'totally and
completely dumb'.
For instance,
>"We're all getting along just fine
>>without the Federal gov't being in operation. That just proves
>>that it's all unnecessary!"
as you point out, the above is pretty stupid.
But on the other hand, one could reasonably say that "a large swathe of
federal employees have been furloughed, for a couple of weeks now, and not
even ABC & CNN (and that's saying something <; ) have been able to find
anything more serious than the Grand Canyon / Statue of Liberty shutdown.
Have there been an disruptions? No. Have there been any news worthy
problems? No.
So IMHO it's an anecdotal-to-mild bit of supporting evidence for a smaller
government sector.
BTW Greg you would be intereted to know anthropologically speaking, that,
the latest conspiracy theory is that indeed, the US is out of money and in
a year or so the Gov't will be mostly gone. The current furloughs
(presumably organized by the Masons <: ) are just 'their' way of getting
'us' mentally prepared for the coming big time shutdowns, defaults, general
collapse, etc.
(Note that this myth much parallels the usual latest ufo myth, that
everything from the movie ET, to current sauced sightings, are really just
the gov't getting us ready for unveiling the aliens who have been here for
50 yrs.)
My take on large gov't is, at the moment in the US, total tax take is 57%.
(Of if you like, govt is 57% of the economy.) That's just (way) too much.
(IMHO)
Shameless plug:
Why Government Doesn't Work
Harry Browne
just released - St. Martins Press
$19.95/$28.95 Can.
You'd like ch. 24, Greg.
>>
>> So we had a small earthquake hereabouts yesterday. All the
>USGS sites were
>> OOS due to the Govt. Shutdown, but a quick Lycos search brings
>up UC Berkeley,
>> and we got the info. To heck with the Feds, we got states
>rights.....
>
>Well, I know you're just kinda being flip about one little issue
>(being able to get info from Berkeley instead of USGS
>(Er...Geological Services??)), but I'm going to use your post as
>a jumping off point for a little mini-rant about silly anti-
>Federal statements. Which should spark a little post-solstice
>fervor here since we have so many anti-Federal folk on list.
>
>I find it really irritating and, frankly, intellectually chowder-
>brained to have heard as many times as I have during these two
>recent gov't shutdowns (and to have heard from people I consider
>pretty smart & educated and people I know only as Joe Average on
>the street) the attitude that "We're all getting along just fine
>without the Federal gov't being in operation. That just proves
>that it's all unnecessary!" To which I say, "Thbbbbppptthhhh!!"
>
>The Federal gov't is *far* from shutdown. When Federal prison
>gaurds go home, when they tell all military personnel to get off
>the base and out of the submarines, when Border Patrol closes up
>shop, the Coast Gaurd stops rescuing ships in distress, and the
>US defaults on its several trillion dollars of debt, *THEN* we
>can talk about the government being "shut down." And I'll be real
>interested to see how many people are saying "See, we don't
>really need the Federal gov't after all!" at that point.
>
>I would certainly agree that there are areas of our society where
>Federal influence should be decreased (though I am not for
>abolition of the Federal gov't as some people on this list and
>elsewhere are), but to point to the current "shutdown" as
>evidence for not needing a Federal gov't is...well, it's stupid.
>It's like tossing a little firecracker at your house and, seeing
>that it did no damage, saying, "Aw, heck, go ahead and drop that
>nuclear warhead on it!"
>
>>
>> later
>> robert
>>
>
>I should note that though this mini-rant has been inspired by
>Robert and Richard's posts, it is not directed at them
>specifically, but at a general attitude that I have encountered
>in several different places and discussions(from FC to the coffee
>shop to the classroom) since the so-called shutdowns began.
>
>
>--
>Greg Ritter
>gritter@vcu.edu
>ritter@urvax.urich.edu
>http://www.urich.edu/~ritter
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