Back in November, my friend Jim started a bit of a discussion on FB with this video that explains how big government ultimately destroys a nation’s prosperity. Idiots guide to public sector that produces no wealth
Another friend, Scott, issued a challenge:
There’s certainly no doubt that republicans and democrats alike (or conservatives and liberals alike, if you prefer) have built an enormous, expensive and unwieldy government over the past 50 or more years; or that, as a county, we’ve been …living beyond our means (or at least beyond what we’ve been willing to pay for) for at least the past 30 years. It’s time to pay up, America.
Now the question is what to cut and I look forward to that debate. Waste, fraud and abuse is the popular refrain but, even if we eliminate that (which would amaze me), the effect will be negligible.
What substantial, popular programs will we eliminate?
<insert cricket chirps> and then he adds, after some time:
It seems the surest way to stifle a conversation about overgrown government is to try & bring it around to specifics. C’mon, folks. No ideas?
Of COURSE I rise to the bait!
OK, I’m game! Ground rules – it enhances individual freedoms from the current structure, decentralizes control back to more local control, and enhances accountability.
Why shouldn’t Education be more localized…
There are plenty of towns like mine trying to figure out where they can cut costs. But every conversation seems to end at cutting education or safety services. While I find it hard to believe that there is nothing else in a budget you can trim, I think I have come up with a reasonable compromise (if not just for the sake of our own rhetorical amusement) that can cut at least a little bit of money from the budget without affecting staffing or resources.
After 12 more hours the Londonderry News on-line polling percentages tell the same story. People who vote on polls at the Londonderry news would (so far) overwhelmingly allow their fourth grader into the New Hampshire State House even though it is not a Gun Free Zone.