Happy Fails
to You
Charlie Earl
Growing up
as I did in the 1950’s I was a fan of the western heroes: Gene Autry, the Cisco
Kid, Hopalong Cassidy and Roy Rogers. It made me sad when the show would come
to an end, and Dale and Roy would sing the “Happy Trails” song. The key line
for a young buckaroo like me was “until we meet again.” It gave me hope and
encouragement that Pat, Dale, Bullet, Trigger and Roy (+NellieBell) would be
back to thrill me in another long, long week. Recently….during one of my fits
of fruitless pondering, I thought about my western heroes and how they compared
to my current big government. Pass the Tums, please.
Although my
heroes often found themselves in difficult situations, their commitment to
justice and their strong characters drove them to prevail. To the contrary our
big over-bloated government routinely discovers tragic circumstances and
injustice then systematically goes about making the situations much worse. Take
poverty, for example, our nation has been conducting a “War on Poverty” since
the mid-1960’s, and here we are nearly 50 years later (a half century) only to
observe that 2012 has the highest level of poverty since The Great Depression. Another
glaring example of the incompetence of big government is the ineffective “War
on Drugs.” Drug use in the United States has not diminished in the period since
the ill-advised policy was enacted, but crime syndicates, particularly Mexican
cartels, have thrived. In addition, the prison population in the United States
has soared beyond those of despotic nations across the globe because of our
imprisoning drug offenders. Costs to the taxpayer have risen to astronomical
heights and the “problem” has not been curtailed. Bad policy with fruitless
outcomes and wasted lives.
One of the very
few enumerated powers for the federal government is cited in the Preamble to The Constitution of the United
States of America. The federal government is charged with providing for the
common defense of the nation. Yet, time and again, over and over, the federal
government distorts and aborts this vital mandate. Our brave and highly
efficient volunteer forces are deployed across the globe while our borders have
become porous. Our agencies which have been designed for internal security
consistently harass and abuse solid citizens while refusing to use technology
and common sense to limit the potential for terrorist mischief. Sieve-like
borders are welcome mats to those who would harm us, and the over-emphasis on
our own people allows the evil-doers to hide among the clutter of information
collected by the various federal agencies. Government is too big and too
inefficient to protect us, and indeed, has itself become a threat to our
liberty.
The late
former President Ronald Reagan was fond of reminding us that if you want more
of something, subsidize it. If you desire less of something, tax it. Our
massive government apparatus has illustrated The Gipper’s wisdom in spades. Too
many subsidies and too many, too high taxes have distorted the free market beyond
all recognition. This twisted focus is not only a problem in the corporate
world but in the arts, education and other areas of human endeavor. Many people
were justifiably outraged by Andres Serrano’s infamous “Piss Christ.” If
government were not subsidizing art of any type, such controversial and
blasphemous pieces might never see the light of day….or be relegated to an
alley shop in Chelsea.
Subsidies
are wrong because the power of government force is used to transfer wealth from
your earnings into the hands of others….without your specific permission. Tax
codes or user fees should be designed to finance a constitutionally limited and
compliant government. Taxes and their collection should never be instruments
for social engineering and behavior modification. It is immoral to use taxes
for that purpose because a worker’s labor is forfeited for “the greater good.”
That is a collectivist ideal and is inconsistent with the concept of a republic
of free people. The government is nothing more than a collection of human
beings who are commanded by a few or are entangled in red tape and paperwork. It
is inefficient, ineffective and, at best, amoral. It is the beast with no
brain. The smaller the beast, the more easily it can be controlled.
Charlie Earl
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