Socialism doesn't work, no matter by whom it is tried. Life would be so much simpler if the rest of the architects of social doom would get this into their thick heads. California is the latest unfortunate example of social experimentation gone awry. It looks, perhaps though, that a majority of Californians are waking up from the social nightmare, and the bellwether state might just be turning a corner. If we can learn from the smaller failure of Californian socialism, then there is still time to turn the American ship of state away from crashing hard upon the rocky shoals of its much larger social venture.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is royally ticked off at the citizens of California, because they aren't going to put up with his Republican socialist crap anymore. They should go It would be nice if government could solve all of our problems, but it simply can't. In most cases it merely pushes the problems into the future, where instead of dealing with mosquitoes now, we become tormented by pterodactyls.
one step further and vote him out of town and back to Hollywood on a rail. Ronald Reagan was a very good actor and a magnificent statesman. Schwarzenegger, on the other hand, is miserable actor and an even worse politician.Government can solve a very limited set of social problems. These include national defense and providing defense and local law enforcement. When it experiments very far beyond these boundaries, it inevitably creates larger problems than the
Far too many government wizards have waved their defective magic socialist wands in the air for us to ever think that such a magic wand exists that would work.
ones it was intended to solve. Rather than bleeding the taxpayer nearly dry in order to provide a plethora of faux solutions to our problems, government leaders could save us all a mountain of grief and money by simply encouraging Americans to be moral and religious. The golden rule is worth far more than its weight in gold. Socialism is, has been, and will always be a lead balloon.If there is not some sense of equality among us, which there is not,
When government steps beyond its bounds "it secures the [bonds of debt] to ourselves and our posterity." America went through one too many episodes of slavery already.
we have serious problems. But it's important for Arnold Schwarzenegger and others of his ilk to finally admit that the only part of those problems that government can solve are related to the prosecution of fraud and tort.Government is incapable of solving the rest of our social problems. Only we are capable of doing that for ourselves--by being good neighbors. It would be nice if government could solve all of our problems, but it simply can't. In most cases it merely pushes the problems into the future, where instead of dealing with mosquitoes now, we become tormented by future pterodactyls.
When government steps beyond its bounds "it secures the [bonds of debt]
Government can solve a very limited set of social problems. These include national defense and local law enforcement. When it experiments very far beyond these boundaries, it inevitably creates larger problems than the ones it was intended to solve.
to ourselves and our posterity." America went through one too many episodes of slavery already.Far too many government wizards have waved their defective magic socialist wands in the air for us to ever think that such a magic wand exists that would work. California has shown us that:
- Government cannot solve the health care crisis by providing health care or insurance.
- Government cannot solve the environmental crisis with CAFE Standards and Cap and Trade.
- Government cannot solve economic inequality by setting minimum wage laws and forcing individuals to bow to their union overlords.
- Government cannot solve our immigration, retirement, or unemployment problems with the current set of laws that fail to secure any of us socially.
- California has shown us in a masterful manner that it is time for us to call off the Dobermans of government and strike up a conversation with our annoying neighbor instead.
While the citizens of CA have slapped down (and regularly do slap down) this latest tax and spend package, why is it that they keep sending the same taxing and spending politicians back to Sacramento election after election? They appear to want to have their cake and eat it too. What's up with the disconnect?
ReplyDeleteI fail to see how California's history shows that minimum wage laws are a failure. There is no indication that minimum wage is a significant factor in California's problems. While it was not the primary point of the post, I did point out a couple of years ago that there were a number of studies that seem to disprove the conservative complaints about minimum wage, and I've seen little beyond anecdotal evidence that minimum wage has a serious deleterious effect.
ReplyDeleteI would personally agree with you that "cap & trade" will accomplish anything meaningful, and will end up much of anything other than another subsidy for business. Better that we aggressively tax pollution to more accurately reflect the real costs of the polluting processes and to help pay for repairing the damage of pollution. But conservatives would never go along with anything billed as a tax.
When you say that Government is only successful at a limited number of issues, I thought I would ask about a few government efforts outside those sectors.
PBS. Do you feel PBS is a disaster, bad TV and a poor use of resources?
NASA. The accomplishments of the space program were not free market endeavors, but centralized planning by the federal government. Do you feel those were failures, or a waste of money?
The internet. The internet was a federal government creation. They created the infrastructure upon which the WWW was built. Could that have been accomplished in the private realm?