More federal observer arguments.

My alter-ego InviQtus fighting the good fight at Federal Observer. The author of the article I'm criticizing was unusually nice to me, so he gets his due at the end. It's weird- they tolerate my insolence for a time, then get pissed and delete all my stuff, then later I'm able to post there again. Anyway, it's fun for me, but I'm sure ultimately fruitless. I don't think they hold their views for intellectual reason. But still I try...

“The “poor-me-I-deserve-what-they-have- because-it-just-isn’t-fair-and-I’m-certainly-NOT-going-to-lift-a-finger-when-we-can-tax-them-more” crowd is really grating on my nerves. There is a solution to every problem if you are willing to find it and work toward it.”

I couldn’t agree more with this sentiment. But of course that’s because it is no where near a fair representation of the views that I hold. Some government services are essential (national defense, police and fire services, maintenance of the justice system, public education, at a minimum) and have to be paid for with tax payer money. I would just like everyone to be made to pay their fair share of taxes. In a nation like ours where the top 1% control 40% of the wealth and large companies pay less in taxes than a bus driver, you can’t argue that the system is operating fairly. That’s what is grating on my nerves.

One of my main problems with you guys is that you complain about socialism when we are actually rapidly becoming a plutocracy. Why does government do so many things that you guys don’t like? When you consider how much large corporations and moneyed interests contribute to election campaigns and when you consider what then comes to be the priorities of government, and when you see who benefits most, it ought to be clear that government does what it does because of the undue influence of big money in the political system.

I think you guys ought to realize that government is not the only threat to liberty and prosperity. It is suppose to be the bulwark against those other threats, but only if it functions as it is suppose to and acts in the interest only of the will of the people. Failing to realize that crucial fact, as I think many in the Tea party camp do, and focusing efforts just on attacking government succeeds only in making the problems you are trying to solve worse.

Now, the issue of the proper extent of the welfare state has also been raised in this discussion. I don’t want to skirt that issue but first I would like for someone to address the argument I just made and let me know where you think I am wrong. By the way, Rick, thank you for the kind response. You are the wind beneath my wings.