Robb Graves said:
Mike,
if that's all you're hearing when we bring this stuff up, i dunno what to say... are you selectivly reading?. it's not just the taking of our money... most of us, even though we don't like how much they take, are more bothered by how and what the government spend it on. your comment earlier (i think it was you) about being hard pressed to find a republican who is against social security... right here dude. and i know alot of other fiscal conservatives that would like to do away with it as well. i could list a million other things, all of them socially related. stuff the government has no business sticking their fingers in. i whole heartedly believe fanny may, freddy mack, GM and crystler, and all of the banks should have been left alone fail or not. i could go on and on, but i gotta get to the gym so that's all for now.
The problem is that your last few posts have all been "Gee, we hate taxes." Well, duh, so does everyone. I am willing to debate whether our taxes are fair or not, and even whether we are spending our money wisely or not, but taxes, like death, is inevitable as Benjamin Franklin (one of the Founding Fathers) said. See? Even the FF were not anti-tax. They knew a society needs taxes.
I too think that the government wastes money with our taxes. We all agree on that; we just disagree on what "waste" is. When I hear a Republican whine about Democrats wasting money though I often roll my eyes, because the GOP knows how to waste money too. Both parties do, and all we can do is try to elect people who will spend it the way we want and not waste it.
I have my list of government waste as well, from tax breaks to corporations that send their factories overseas and put their money in offshore accounts, to blank check military spending for the CIA, to money for military expenses for things that don't work and that the military doesn't want, to funding for "faith based initiatives", to (and here is where we agree) bailouts for companies that were so incompetently run that they fell apart.
As for Republicans not liking social security, allow me to rephrase: No ELECTED Republican will be against social security.
The problem is that there are gray areas, and we're really only arguing over a limited area in the middle. (Perhaps to you I may seem like a radical, but I think I am pretty much a moderate). You're not against all government spending, obviously. Do you agree that the government should provide education for children? Libraries? Public parks? Should the government regulate the food industry to make sure we're not getting e-coli in our meats? Should they regulate airlines for safety, or check products to make sure they don't kill people? There are many many things our government does to help and protect us because there's no profit in it, and therefore no incentive for businesses to do these things on their own.
If you don't even agree with that, well, you have to admit that you're way out in the right field. If you're not willing to admit that, you're not going to get a lot accomplished politically, any more than someone who wants the US to become a communist or socialist society would be. The way to get anything accomplished is through compromise.
Bottom line: Government in America is US, not them. We're the government; they just are elected to do what we tell them. And here's where we have a philosophical difference: Liberals believe the government (us) should be used to better all of our lives; conservatives think government shouldn't get involved at all. (Those are extremist examples, obviously.) Do I think the government goes too far sometimes? Of course. Do I think it wastes money? Absolutely. Do I agree with everything it does? Of course not. But I don't say "Well, it's inefficient so therefore it shouldn't do anything" either...
