Gov

Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one. – Thomas Paine

In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. – Ronald Reagan

Passing laws by majority means 51% of the people can tell the other 49% what they can and cannot do. The supreme court tempers that a little because they need at least a 55.6% majority. – Me

What idiot would ever vote for more government? – Me

I’ll be up front. As a person that works in our free market system, I don’t need or want much from my government. National defense, police, roads, pollution rules and over-fishing control of our oceans. I don’t need a social safety net, forced savings for retirement or laws that force me to wear my seatbelt. I prefer to be left to make my own choices and suffer the result, good or bad.

What’s your experience with the federal and state governments of the United States?

Selected good and bad from my perspective …

Let’s start with the bad:

  • Toll roads.
  • The government takes around 42% of my productivity.
  • I pay an excessive tax on alcohol and cigarettes.
  • The Post Office and BMV. I don’t have to explain these… Inexplicably, they both seem to be better than in 1985.
  • The Phoenix airport charges me a huge tax on my car rental to support their government car rental facility. Last time, it was $176, so I decided never to fly to Phoenix again.
  • I pay three times more for my internet than if the service providers weren’t shielded from competition by the government.
  • I pay more for 2×4 lumber because the government reduces competition.
  • I pay more for government monopoly electricity, gas, sewage and water than I would if it was free market. I don’t have any data to prove this, how could I?
  • The Jones Act. Need I say more?
  • The States of California and Arizona consistently dated my child support payments late so they could claim they were pulling money in from dead-beat dads. They threatened to take my federal tax refund several times, despite repeated data dumps I gave them to prove I was not behind. My payments were automatic through my paycheck to Indiana. Indiana never thought I was late.
  • Have you stopped to consider the corruption level of the US government? The concept of a whip is corrupt, isn’t it? Let’s not even get into campaign funding or gerrymandering.
  • The US embassy in Paris shredded my passport due to a government administrative error. (Lost all those cool stamps from countries I visited.)
  • Commercial flying is costly and a pain in the neck because the government taxes tickets heavily, the government runs the airports, the government shields the airlines from competition, and … the most inefficient organization I’ve ever seen, the TSA.
  • Parking meters.
  • I could keep going … and probably will later.

The good:

  • The government stopped excessive pollution by businesses.
  • The government ensures the oceans aren’t over-fished.
  • The public road system. (Except for those places with tolls.)
  • The national and state park systems.

The OK:

  • The military. It’s costly, though. Fortunately, the government stays mostly out of the actual training and conduct of war and leaves it to the generals. DoD procurement is crazily inefficient.
  • The police force. You have to have one. Doesn’t seem well run anywhere. The highway patrol’s main function seems to be to collect money for the state.
  • The fire departments. Look a bit overspent. Hate those sirens all the time.
  • California’s beach access laws.