The Business of Government is to Promote Happiness or Business?

[percysunshine]

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The role of government is that of an umpire in a baseball game.

Sometimes the government gets all confused and decides it actually wants to play instead of umpiring. The result is chaos. At other times the government may decide that instead of just enforcing rules, the rules need to be changed so that there are more umpires. Left uncontrolled, the game ends up with 50 umpires per player. This is also not good. The result is paralysis. It takes all season to play one game. Think of lawyers writing law to guarantee full employment for lawyers.

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[kaz]

"The Business of Government is to Promote Happiness or Business?"

Neither.

What is the business of government?

For the Federal government, it's primarily to provide for the common defense. It also has a role in trade ensuring free trade between the States (the actual intent of the commerce clause) and enabling trade and cooperation with foreign governments. And it can collect taxes to fund those things, nothing more. Other than that, the Constitution didn't give it much power. The rest was grabbed by power hungry politicians who manipulated the greedy, wealth envying masses like you.

 

[Contumacious]

"The Business of Government is to Promote Happiness or Business?"

Neither.

What is the business of government?

For the Federal government, it's primarily to provide for the common defense. It also has a role in trade ensuring free trade between the States (the actual intent of the commerce clause) and enabling trade and cooperation with foreign governments. And it can collect taxes to fund those things, nothing more. Other than that, the Constitution didn't give it much power. The rest was grabbed by power hungry politicians who manipulated the greedy, wealth envying masses like you.

EXACTLY.

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[georgephillip]

But government is not supposed to steal from "A" and give to "B" in order to give those rights "utility".

If "A" has stolen from "B", should government redistribute what's been stolen? Every western government yet invented has existed to advantage its richest citizens at the expense of its majority. The solution isn't to weaken the power of government, but rather to weaken the power of economic elites who have owned every previous government.

 

[georgephillip]

For the Federal government, it's primarily to provide for the common defense.

Common defense has many more facets today than it did 200 years ago, for example, unemployment and climate change qualify as threats to common defense and the general welfare. You aren't one of those who thinks a literal interpretation of the US Constitution supplies enough answers for a 21st century republic to survive, are you?

 

[rightwinger]

"The Business of Government is to Promote Happiness or Business?"

Neither.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

liberals believe that "promote the general welfare" means take care of everyone from birth to death, except unborn children that is.

No they don't

They believe in helping people who need help

Everyone believes in helping people who need help. Able bodied people on generational welfare do not need our tax dollars to maintain their drug and booze habits.

Countries like Pakistan also do not need our tax dollars.

We waste billions based on dem/lib feeeeeeeeeeeelings and emoooooooooooootion.

The only ones Republicans are concerned about helping is the one percent

Now, this is the point where you get to point out any GOP legislation from Republicans that is not targeted to the one percent

 

[kaz]

For the Federal government, it's primarily to provide for the common defense.

Common defense has many more facets today than it did 200 years ago, for example, unemployment and climate change qualify as threats to common defense and the general welfare. You aren't one of those who thinks a literal interpretation of the US Constitution supplies enough answers for a 21st century republic to survive, are you?

Common defense does have many facets. Besides the military, there is the FBI for cross State crimes and the CIA and NSA for intelligence as well as the Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard who aren't specifically mentioned and I don't think need to be. Those are all defense.

But global warming as defense? That's just stupid.

 

[rightwinger]

"The Business of Government is to Promote Happiness or Business?"

Neither.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

liberals believe that "promote the general welfare" means take care of everyone from birth to death, except unborn children that is.

No they don't

They believe in helping people who need help

Correction

Fascists, aka, "liberals" believe in using VIOLENCE to force others to share their wealth

You think hyperbole helps you make your case

 

[kaz]

We waste billions based on dem/lib feeeeeeeeeeeelings and emoooooooooooootion.

The only ones Republicans are concerned about helping is the one percent

Now, this is the point where you get to point out any GOP legislation from Republicans that is not targeted to the one percent

Since the 1% earn 20% of the income and pay 40% of taxes, we are the ones who need help. And we also create the jobs, a fact which doesn't bother you since you prefer government dependency anyway and don't think things through.

 

[rightwinger]

We waste billions based on dem/lib feeeeeeeeeeeelings and emoooooooooooootion.

The only ones Republicans are concerned about helping is the one percent

Now, this is the point where you get to point out any GOP legislation from Republicans that is not targeted to the one percent

Since the 1% earn 20% of the income and pay 40% of taxes, we are the ones who need help. And we also create the jobs, a fact which doesn't bother you since you prefer government dependency anyway and don't think things through.

Yea......we tried giving them help
Lowest tax rate in generations, cut capital gains, provided tax write offs

All with the promise of more jobs

They kept the money and shipped the jobs overseas

 

[kaz]

Yea......we tried giving them help
Lowest tax rate in generations, cut capital gains, provided tax write offs

All with the promise of more jobs

They kept the money and shipped the jobs overseas

And you ensure it stays outside the country by taking 35% of it if we try to return it. As I keep saying, liberalism, well intentioned, poorly conceived.

 

[georgephillip]

Who are these 'elites' you speak so frequently of?

I want names, not some Kafkaesque accusations then run away and hide like a child casting a stone.

Start here if you have any real interest:
The Richest People in America List - Forbes

 

[Contumacious]

"The Business of Government is to Promote Happiness or Business?"

Neither.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

liberals believe that "promote the general welfare" means take care of everyone from birth to death, except unborn children that is.

No they don't

They believe in helping people who need help

Correction

Fascists, aka, "liberals" believe in using VIOLENCE to force others to share their wealth

You think hyperbole helps you make your case

You think Orwellian double-talk helps you make your case.

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[Contumacious]

But government is not supposed to steal from "A" and give to "B" in order to give those rights "utility".

If "A" has stolen from "B", should government redistribute what's been stolen? .

If "A" reports to the Government (police) that Property XYZ has been stolen by "B" then the police should investigate and if true, return the property.


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[georgephillip]

The only manipulation going on, now or ever, was through government.

Governments come and go and with them, the 'elites'.

Government is at the heart of everything wrong with civilization, not business

Hereditary wealth and/or multinational corporations have controlled every western government for thousands of years. Without some form of government, civilization and its artifacts like markets and private wealth doesn't exist. The solution is to build a wall of separation between the state and the influence of private wealth, and make sure the state's richest citizens are first to risk their lives in war.

 

[SwimExpert]

The business of government is to stay out of everyone else's business.

/thread

 

[georgephillip]

But global warming as defense? That's just stupid

Not if it's real.

 

[georgephillip]

The Madoff's of the world go to jail. Govt criminals like Rostenkoski and Bloggo also go to jail

Madoff went to jail because he stole from the rich.
Compare his fate to those on Wall Street who fostered an "epidemic of control fraud" the FBI warned about in 2004. How many of those crimes were even prosecuted?

 

[georgephillip]

GOVERNEMT was for one thing and that was to PROTECT us. Not become your fikken cheerleader, nanny, mommy and daddy.

"The justification of the state refers to the source of legitimate authority for the state or government. Typically, such a justification explains why the state should exist, and to some degree scopes the role of government - what a legitimate state should or should not be able to do."
PROTECT doesn't really narrow it down very well.
Justification for the state - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

 

[kaz]

But global warming as defense? That's just stupid

Not if it's real.

Whether it's real or not doesn't make it "defense." That's just word gaming.

And liberals don't believe it's real. If you actually thought it was real, you would not use it to justify solutions that satisfy your political agenda and do nothing to combat global warming like sending trillions to poorer countries and exempting the biggest polluters. If I thought the seas were going to rise and flood the land, I would be going to my political opponents with a sincere desire to work together, not using it as a partisan political hammer.