AMERICAN CONSERVATISM IN 2008 AND BEYOND

The Government undertakes projects which cannot be profitable; how many private investors would sink money into something which will never return a profit, or generate income?

Well you know, I work very hard for my money. And I would like the satisfaction of knowing that the taxes I pay actually go to projects and purposes that do strengthen the country and promote the general welfare. And for me, that means that the money is spent for the Constitutionally mandated responsibilities of the federal government and it is spent efficiently, effectively, and getting the most value possible for the dollar expended.

I personally have no problem with helping folks get off the sauce or whatever and I don't mind some public funds being allocated for that purpose though I would prefer that it come from the private sector as much as possible. I do think this is a state and local issue and the feds should stay out of it.

The sale of alcohol generates large amounts of tax revenue for states and the federal government. The most recent national statistics on revenues from taxes and fees on alcohol are from 2006. Federal Tax Revenue _ Distilled Spirits: $4.6 billion _ Wine: $877 million _ Beer: $3.7 billion State Tax Revenue _ Distilled Spirits: $5.7 billion _ Wine: $1.6 billion _ Beer: $5.4 billion Local Tax Revenue _ Distilled Spirits: $529 million _ Wine: $219 million _ Beer: $1.09 billion

http://article.wn.com/view/2009/02/15/A_look_at_taxes_generated_by_the_sale_of_alcohol_l/

I personally have no problem with helping folks get off the sauce or whatever and I don't mind some public funds being allocated for that purpose though I would prefer that it come from the private sector as much as possible. I do think this is a state and local issue and the feds should stay out of it.

"...those are deeply entrenched MAC principles. "

The Republican Civil War
By Thomas Sowell

...No segment of the population has lost more by the agendas of the liberal constituencies of the Democratic Party than the black population.

The teachers' unions, environmental fanatics and the ACLU are just some of the groups to whose interests blacks have been sacrificed wholesale. Lousy education and high crime rates in the ghettos, and unaffordable housing elsewhere with building restrictions, are devastating prices to pay for liberalism...

But others consider OTHER things to be important. I consider bike lanes to be important as well as needle exchanges and money to keep the very poor from being Dreadfully poor. To me, these are as valid uses of our tax dollars as a bridge or a tank or the Hubble telescope.

I do not believe the purpose of government is efficiency, not at all. And efficiency should not be our overriding goal when it comes to allocating dollars of spending or taxation. Debra makes a great point above, when she points out that our system was specifically created to be inefficient!

Cycloptichorn

:"Whatever the Republicans are in right now, they are certainly not in power. And sooner, rather than later, President OBama is not going to be able to blame his imprudent policies on President Bush or the GOP."

Basic principles defined by Wm Boetcker:
* You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
* You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
* You cannot help little men by tearing down big men.
* You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
* You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
* You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money.
* You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
* You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn.
* You cannot build character and courage by destroying men's initiative and independence.
* And you cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they can and should do for themselves.

I think the "efficiency" discussion here evades a central issue. I fully agree that many wisely constructed elements of government are deliberately inefficient - often for other very good reasons. I also agree that governments are called on to do many beneficial activities that are not themselves economically efficient, also for good reasons. However, we should also recognize that there is indeed a basis for reasonable disagreement here, particularly involving government programs that, though often conceived with good intentions, don't actually accomplish their intended purpose or even in some cases, through the workings of human nature, actually worsten it.

:"1. It is true that anybody who intentionally uses tobacco, alcohol, or other potentially addictive drugs runs the risk of becoming addicted to the drug they choose to use. The patient may or may not be aware of his/her specific risk as nobody knows for certain how their genetic makeup will react to the drug. Many who think they have behaved responsibly and in moderation do cross an invisible line into addiction and that was entirely unintentional on the part of the addict. In other words, virtually nobody INTENDS to get hooked on their drug of choice.

2. It is also true that prescribed drugs can cause addiction and the patient may or may not know that when he or she is administered those drugs and neither the patient nor the doctor is aware when the addiction takes hold.

3. It is further true that once addicted, most addicts are affected physically, emotionally, and mentally and may not have the capability to either recognize how sick they are or have the ability to deal with it without help.

There are charitable organizations (the most common route) or state run treatment centers to help addicts kick whatever has them hooked.

I personally have no problem with helping folks get off the sauce or whatever and I don't mind some public funds being allocated for that purpose though I would prefer that it come from the private sector as much as possible. I do think this is a state and local issue and the feds should stay out of it.

I agree with you that there should be no automatic entitlement for such help though I do think a doctor who carelessly or unintentionally allowed a patient to become addicted should carry the responsibility to help the patient get clean; and/or work comp carriers should pay such costs if an injured worker should become dependent on pain meds, etc.

In other words it should be primarily the responsibility of those responsible to deal with it and otherwise is best handled by the private sector via charitable organizations etc. I was certified by a private hospital that was funded by a combination of insurance, charitable donations, state, and city funds for its treatment unit and it had a tremendous success rate.

Nobody gets free from an addiction without accepting personal responsibility for the effort, but there is some room for help for people who have accepted such responsibility"

:"The Heaviest Element
*/Lawrence Livermore Laboratories/* has discovered the heaviest element yet known to science. The new element, *Governmentium *(symbol=Gv), has one *neutron*, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312.

These 312 particles are held together by forces called *morons*, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called *peons*. Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A tiny amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second, to take from 4 days to 4 years to complete. Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2 to 6 years. It does not decay, but instead undergoes a *reorganization* in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming *isodopes*.

This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as *critical morass*. When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes *Administratium* (symbol=Ad), an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium, since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons."

Article I.Section 8. The Congress shall have power
To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
To borrow money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;
To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States;
To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;
To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States;
To establish post offices and post roads;
To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;
To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;
To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations;
To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;
To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years;
To provide and maintain a navy;
To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces;
To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings;--And
To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.

http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fed36.asp
Hamilton No. 36
Let it be recollected that the proportion of these taxes is not to be left to the discretion of the national legislature, but is to be determined by the numbers of each State, as described in the second section of the first article. An actual census or enumeration of the people must furnish the rule, a circumstance which effectually shuts the door to partiality or oppression. The abuse of this power of taxation seems to have been provided against with guarded circumspection. In addition to the precaution just mentioned, there is a provision that "all duties, imposts, and excises shall be UNIFORM throughout the United States.''

http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fed41.asp
Madison No. 41
''But what color can the objection have, when a specification of the objects alluded to by these general terms immediately follows, and is not even separated by a longer pause than a semicolon? If the different parts of the same instrument ought to be so expounded, as to give meaning to every part which will bear it, shall one part of the same sentence be excluded altogether from a share in the meaning; and shall the more doubtful and indefinite terms be retained in their full extent, and the clear and precise expressions be denied any signification whatsoever? For what purpose could the enumeration of particular powers be inserted, if these and all others were meant to be included in the preceding general power? Nothing is more natural nor common than first to use a general phrase, and then to explain and qualify it by a recital of particulars.

http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fed45.asp
Madison No. 45
The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce; with which last the power of taxation will, for the most part, be connected.

The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the State.

Re: Cycloptichorn (Post 3602167)
Cycloptichorn wrote:
The Government undertakes projects which cannot be profitable; how many private investors would sink money into something which will never return a profit, or generate income?
T
K
Outstandingly well put.