Role of government Archives - Page 10 of 11 Voice For Liberty

Nov

Big government is thoroughly entrenched

Writing from Orlando, Florida The November 16, 2005 Wall Street Journal contains an editorial titled "Fiscal Chicken Hawks." This article reveals the trivial amounts of federal spending that is being fought over: "The reality is that over the next five years the total federal budget is expected to exceed $13.855 trillion. The Republican faux-Slimfast plan basically erases the rounding error, or the $0.055 trillion, and leaves the $13.8 trillion untouched. To put it another way, the GOP plan reduces the increase in the federal budget by a microscopic 0.25% over the next five years." Faced with even this barely noticeable…

Oct

By Bob Weeks

How government destroys self-reliance

Writing from Lexington, Kentucky There is a problem when government interferes with what people should be doing for themselves. Government can destroy the incentive to provide for yourself and your family. For the families of victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorists attack on New York, a board determined how much the family should receive in compensation based on a variety of factors, including the age and earning potential of the deceased. Then, the award was reduced by the amount of any life insurance the deceased had. We should ask what is the message given when government does this? What…

Oct

By Bob Weeks

How government insurance destroyed New Orleans

Writing from Chicago, Illinois In the September 3, 2005 New York Times, columnist John Tierney educates us on the difference between private insurance and government insurance. Currently, the flood insurance that's available through the federal government, because the premiums are so low, doesn't fully reflect the costs of assuming that risk. And even as cheap as the flood insurance rates are, not many people bought it. What's wrong with government insurance that's priced too low to cover the risks it insures? First, the taxpayers as a whole have to pay to subsidize something that benefits only a few. Second, as…

Oct

By Bob Weeks

Book Review: Winning The Future

Winning The Future Newt Gingrich Regnery Publishing, Inc., 2005 This book by former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich outlines his prescription for what America needs to do to avoid decline. The five threats Gingrich identifies are Islamic terrorism, that God will be driven from American life, that America will lose its patriotic sense of self, that America will lose its economic supremacy to China and India, and that future demands of social security and Medicare will collapse our system. To counter these threats, Gingrich says we need a 21st century contract with America. The contract is quoted at the…

Oct

By Bob Weeks

George W. Bush leads in discretionary spending

In an article published by The Cato Institute (Bush Beats Johnson: Comparing the Presidents), we can read this: Revised data released during the summer by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) provide analysts the ability to make side-by-side comparisons of the spending habits of each president during the last 40 years. All presidents presided over net increases in spending overall, though some were bigger spenders than others. As it turns out, George W. Bush is one of the biggest spenders of them all. In fact, he is an even bigger spender than Lyndon B. Johnson in terms of discretionary spending. This…

Sep

By Bob Weeks

Randy Scholfield and less government

In an editorial in the September 18, 2005 Wichita Eagle, Randy Scholfield wrote "Less government is a laudable goal." The dictionary defines laudable as "Deserving commendation; praiseworthy" or "Deserving honor, respect, or admiration." Mr. Scholfield's past writings don't treat the goal of less government this way. In fact, it doesn't seem there is a single government program that Mr. Scholfield doesn't like and praise. On September 13, 2004, he advocated more funding for early childhood education, writing "... the state Legislature needs to do the right thing for the state's children and future, and invest in early childhood education." He…

Aug

By Bob Weeks

The misplaced morality of public officials

In Wichita some public officials, particularly mayor Carlos Mayans, are seeking to eliminate adult businesses and stores selling pornography. This focus on private morality lies in sharp contrast with government's large-scale acts of public immorality. If government allows people to gamble, look at nude dancers, or buy pornography and sex toys, it is not government that is "sinning" or acting immorally. Government is not requiring that we do these things. Government is merely allowing those who wish to do so to engage in these activities. But when government -- say the Wichita City Council -- takes the property of one…

May

By Bob Weeks

The Invasiveness of Government

TRACKSIDEby John D'Aloia Jr.May 31, 2005 Trackside last discussed the use of the legislative process to feed the insatiable itch for power that overtakes elected officials. This past session a majority of Kansas state senators demonstrated the itch by passing SB45, a bill that would have given local jurisdictions the means to instantly collect past due property taxes by making the delinquency a cause for a court judgement against all the landowner's resources to settle the tax debt. As stated in that Trackside, the ability to condemn or control private property is another route to increasing the power of government.…

May

By Bob Weeks

I, Pencil

I, Pencil Leonard E. Read (Click here to read the article.) Do you think there exists a single person who knows how to make a lead pencil? In this article, Mr. Read shows us how there is no one who knows even a small fraction of what is necessary to produce even this simple, everyday item. How, then, does a lead pencil come to be manufactured? Through the uncoordinated actions of many people, each exchanging their own small amount of knowledge for something else they want. The absence of a master mind, of anyone dictating or forcibly directing these countless…

Apr

By Bob Weeks

The miracle and morality of the market

The Miracle and Morality of the Market Richard M. Ebeling (Click here to read the article.) In this short article we learn the simple mechanism that makes our economy work so well. Interference with that mechanism is not only harmful, it is immoral. Prices convey the information that we need to make our economy work. Here is why: How are the activities of an increasingly larger group of individuals successfully coordinated, so that all the multitudes of demands and supplies are brought into balance and harmony? The Austrian economist and Nobel Laureate Friedrich Hayek showed how all of the knowledge…