Government makes us poor

[Quantum Windbag]

Some very good points in this article. I really need to start paying more attention to Stossell.

Freedom frightens some people. They say if no one is in charge there would be chaos. That is intuitive, but think about a skating rink. Before rinks were invented, if you proposed an amusement in which people strap blades to their feet and skate around on ice at whatever speeds they wish, you'd have been called crazy. There's got to be speed limits, stoplights, turn signals. But we know that people navigate rinks safely on their own. They create their own order, with only minimal rules. Society would work the same way—and does to a large extent even today. "Great part of that order which reigns among mankind is not the effect of government," Thomas Paine, the soul of the American Revolution, wrote. "It has its origin in the principles of society and the natural constitution of man. ... Common interest (has) a greater influence than the laws of government."
If libertarians were "in charge," there would be laws to protect us from foreign enemies and those who would steal from us or injure us. Today, by contrast, under the rule of Democans and Republicrats, we're drowning in rules—160,000 pages' worth. Micromanagement kills opportunity and freedom.
Maybe if there were a way to have more competition among governments, things would be better. Competition forces people to become more efficient and to get rid of stupid rules. What if we let people take over some unused land in America to create areas with fewer rules, simpler legal systems, smaller government?

Government Makes Us Poor - Reason Magazine

 

[Avatar4321]

Ben Fraklin's tract "The way to wealth" involves a wise old man being asked by fellow shoppers what he thinks about the burdens that Government places on us.

The Wise man, Father Abraham, responds that while a government that taxed it's people of 10% of it's time would be incredibly burdensome, that we as a people burden ourselves in general even more than the government because of our idleness, our foolishness/carelessness, and because of our pride.

I think Mr Franklin was right. Our current government burdens us even far more than the 10% he mentioned. Yet despite the fact that we are burdened at least 33% of the year by our government, we burden ourselves more through our idleness, foolishness/carelessness, and becauses of our pride.

I think if we were to repent of our sins; if we were to cease to be idle, to become wise and careful with the stewardship God has given us, and become humble, like a little child, as God desires, that we be able to overcome the burdens the government places on us in regardless to wealth creation. Not only would we be blessed simply by applying these principles, but if we turned to God while doing so we can be blessed even more.

If we are a people who ceases to be idle, who is humble, and who is careful with that which we have, we will become a people who can make wealth easily if we choose it.

The only thing I would add is we need to seek to be an honest and trustworthy people. How many people lose opportunities for wealth because they sell their good name?