Role of government

[Calamitus]

Lately I have been pondering things political in response to some FB posts made by a liberal family member. Mostly they were anti-Romney but also brought up some points about welfare and taking care of the poor and needy. Being in the south, religion was a behind the scenes player in most of this and it got me wondering, my being a Christian and all, what role the gov't should play in providing for the poor. The more I thought about it the more I came to realize that taking care of the needy is an individual responsibility and the gov't should have no business forcing anyone to take care of anyone else no matter how warm and fuzzy gov't programs make one feel. Well a quick Google search on "role of government " turned up this jewel that fits precisely with my point of view on just about everything regarding the govt. What does anyone else think about it? The present situation appears to be approaching the tyranny and dictatorship predicted in the speech, and even though it was published 44 years ago, it is amazingly appropriate to the current administration.

The Proper Role of Government – Ezra Taft Benson - Latter-day Conservative

[Oldgrunt]

That is a very good article you referenced. You can see by it how our country has gone astray from those principles. In today's world, you will be labeled as a heretic for even bringing it to light. I feel that this country has gone too far to ever return to such ideals. Such a sad state we are in!

[jd_mitchell]

Check out heritage.org for more interesting stuff

[fstroupe]

Dozens of studies show that liberals do not give a considerable amount to charities. For a long time I wondered why, as they talk such a good show about "caring". But even more, I have wondered for over 30 years what is the deal with their always wanting to increase taxes....because tax increases includes themselves, and I'm sorry, it is not normal or natural for people to want to pay more taxes.

I finally realized that liberals consider the US Government a charity. (I am more talking about the liberal citizen, not the liberal politician, who use wealth distribution as a way to gain power)

Jesus Christ obviously did not expect governments to take care of the poor and needy, he did not say a single word about it. But said plenty about individuals doing it.

[CapGun]

This is a good time and place to mention what my quote at the bottom of my posts will be. If anyone thinks it is not original please let me know where you have seen it and who's quote it is. Up until then I will call it mine.
"The moral ideal of charity is far superior to mandated shared prosperity".

[BC1]

Dozens of studies show that liberals do not give a considerable amount to charities. For a long time I wondered why, as they talk such a good show about "caring". But even more, I have wondered for over 30 years what is the deal with their always wanting to increase taxes....because tax increases includes themselves, and I'm sorry, it is not normal or natural for people to want to pay more taxes.

I finally realized that liberals consider the US Government a charity. (I am more talking about the liberal citizen, not the liberal politician, who use wealth distribution as a way to gain power)

Jesus Christ obviously did not expect governments to take care of the poor and needy, he did not say a single word about it. But said plenty about individuals doing it.

Joe Biden's tax returns show he gave as little as $300 per year in charitable contributions on a total income of $379,000. All the while giving speeches about how Americans need to be more charitable. My elderly mother, on Social Security gives more than that.

I don't believe anyone on this forum would deny a child food or medical care to someone suffering or a roof over a homeless person's head. Especially anyone who's ever fallen on hard times. I thank God for my life every day. I could easily have been any of those people. Circumstances are sometimes beyond a persons control and as a result they have no way to obtain medical care or are struggling to feed a family. This is especially true in a bad economy. So, despite my strong leaning toward rep/cons values, I am quite liberal in this area. This probably makes me an independent. But then again, how many people agree with every single point put forth in their party's platform? I believe that entitlements must exist for those who really need it. Now I'm not talking about "homey" who collects a check and deals drugs on the corner. I'm speaking of legitimate situations where the breadwinner has died or become sick, etc. I would deny no one their dignity. My concern is that these programs are heavily abused.

[fstroupe]

Joe Biden's tax returns show he gave as little as $300 per year in charitable contributions on a total income of $379,000. All the while giving speeches about how Americans need to be more charitable. My elderly mother, on Social Security gives more than that.

The Obama's 2007 tax return (I think, might have been 2006) shows them making over $7 Million. Nearly all of the $27K they gave to charity went to Jeremiah Wright's church. (that's 0.385%)

Of course, the Obamas have been giving more to charity since his election, $172,130 last year. And of course their yearly income is much less, appx 10% of their aforementioned banner year.

[Rhino]

A wise and frugal government which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.
--- Thomas Jefferson (1801)

When all government, in little as in great things, shall be drawn to Washington as the Center of all power, it will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated.
--- Thomas Jefferson

I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
--- Thomas Jefferson

The policy of the American government is to leave their citizens free, neither restraining nor aiding them in their pursuits.
--- Thomas Jefferson

The Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.
--- Benjamin Franklin

It would be thought a hard government that should tax its people one tenth part.
--- Benjamin Franklin

My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.
--- Thomas Jefferson.

A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.
--- Thomas Jefferson

The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
--- Thomas Jefferson

I cannot undertake to lay my finger upon an article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on the objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.
--- James Madison

With respect to the words "general welfare," I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators.
--- James Madison

[fuhr52]

The role of government does not extend beyond national security, per the US Constitution. The needs of the individual is not part of governments role. These needs should be provided by private and religious organizations that thrive to provide these services. The issue in my opinion is that the ones falling through the cracks, per say, are the ones that choose to live off the sacrifices of others. That is where the government steps in to provide aid to those that the privates miss because the privates have rule that must be adhered to. The government has rules but, hay those can be ignored if it means someone gets left out. As has been said by me and others. Liberals are all about the euphoric feeling of good intentions. Solutions be damned. Liberals believe the government is one of their charities and thus the taxes they pay are the same as a charitable contribution, so no need to contribute to the private charities.

[Oldgrunt]

Welfare State - Ayn Rand Lexicon.



Since the things man needs for survival have to be produced, and nature does not guarantee the success of any human endeavor, there is not and cannot be any such thing as a guaranteed economic security. The employer who gives you a job, has no guarantee that his business will remain in existence, that his customers will continue to buy his products or services. The customers have no guarantee that they will always be able and willing to trade with him, no guarantee of what their needs, choices and incomes will be in the future. If you retire to a self-sustaining farm, you have no guarantee to protect you from what a flood or a hurricane might do to your land and your crops. If you surrender everything to the government and give it total power to plan the whole economy, this will not guarantee your economic security, but it will guarantee the descent of the entire nation to a level of miserable poverty—as the practical results of every totalitarian economy, communist or fascist, have demonstrated.

Morally, the promise of an impossible “right” to economic security is an infamous attempt to abrogate the concept of rights. It can and does mean only one thing: a promise to enslave the men who produce, for the benefit of those who don’t. “If some men are entitled by right to the products of the work of others, it means that those others are deprived of rights and condemned to slave labor.” (“Man’s Rights” in Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal.) There can be no such thing as the right to enslave, i.e., the right to destroy rights.