More federal government control has made things much better, right?

 

Commentary by James H. Shott

Most Americans probably have at best a foggy concept of the degree to which the federal government intrudes into their lives, and just how many people are paid to conduct that intrusion from dozens, perhaps hundreds, of departments, agencies, bureaus, divisions, boards and other bodies.

In March of this year the U.S. Census Bureau reported that as of March 2010, the last year for which complete data exist, there were 3,007,938 total federal employees, 2,583,768 of them working full-time, with a payroll that month of $16.2 billion.

Depending upon whom you believe, federal employees either make lots more than their private sector counterparts (according to Republicans and other small government advocates) or lots less than private sector employees (according to Democrats and federal employee union leaders). Looking at total wages and benefits, the Republicans and small government advocates are closer to right, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

A CBO report in January of this year concluded that federal employees with no more than a high school education and those with a bachelor’s degree averaged higher total compensation than their private sector counterparts by 36 percent and 15 percent, respectively. But where benefits are concerned, the lower the education level of the federal employee, the greater the disparity in paid benefits. “Average benefits for federal workers with no more than a high school diploma were 72 percent higher than for their private-sector counterparts,” while those “whose education ended in a bachelor's degree were 46 percent higher” than for similar workers in the private sector, whereas workers with “a professional degree or doctorate received roughly the same level of average benefits in both sectors.”

We euphemistically refer to federal government employees as “public servants,” but increasingly it seems that it is we who serve them. And just what is it that they are up to?

Many of them are madly creating rules and regulations with the force of law and enforcing them. Most of them were not created by Congress, the only government branch empowered to create laws, and Congress is not even specifically aware of many or most of them, except when someone writes a letter of complaint. Furthermore, all of this regulating and penalizing often occurs without oversight by anyone besides other bureaucrats.

“A man’s home is his castle” is a phrase that once represented America’s personal freedom, meaning that people enjoyed the position of rulers in their homes, and others had no right to enter without the householder's permission. That is no longer true; now, Washington is in charge.

This situation has become so perverse that attorney and author Mark Levin describes it thus: “America has become a society in which the people are wise enough to select their own leaders, but too incompetent to choose the right lightbulb.” In his brilliant book “Ameritopia: the Unmaking of America” he cites as one example of the degree to which the feds have become entangled in our day-to-day lives the government’s involvement in the food industry where “the federal budget for regulating nearly all aspects of food, from production to consumption, exceeds the entire country’s net farm income.”

And that is just for our food.

Here’s a test: Before reading further, make a list of the things in your most personal space – your home – that government at some level doesn’t regulate. It will not be an impressive or long list.

Now that you have completed the test, here are some of the things in your home about which you have little to say, courtesy of Mr. Levin: washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, dishwashing detergents, microwave ovens, toilets, showerheads, heating and cooling systems, refrigerators, freezers, furnace fans and boilers, ceiling fans, dehumidifiers, lightbulbs, certain renovations, fitness equipment, clothing, baby cribs, pacifiers, rattles and toys, marbles, latex balloons, matchbooks, bunk beds, mattresses, mattress pads, televisions, radios, cell phones, iPods, and other digital media devices, computer components, video recording devices, speakers, batteries, battery chargers, power supplies, stereo equipment, garage door openers, lawn mowers, lawn darts, pool slides, toothpaste, deodorant, dentures and virtually everything one could put in a medicine cabinet.

Things are not improving under President Barack Obama. Dr. Robert Moffit, writing for The Heritage Foundation, reports that “[s]ince President Obama took office in 2009, federal agencies have issued 75 major regulations with an annual additional cost to the economy of $38 billion. Taken altogether, the Small Business Administration last year estimated that the total cost of America’s regulatory burden reached $1.75 trillion—more than twice what Americans pay in individual income taxes,” and more than the annual budget deficits each year since 2009. And that is just from the federal government; state and local bodies also contribute.

And if it isn’t bad enough that these multitudinous rules and regulations stifle productivity and make things cost a lot more, some of them are manifestly stupid. In order to close down a business, Milwaukee, Wisconsin requires purchasing an expensive license, submitting a pile of paperwork on the inventory to be sold, and a fee based on the length of the "going out of business sale."

What has happened to the “Land of the Free” and the self-reliant spirit that made this country great?

Cross-posted from Observations

The Big Lie! ... by J. D. Longstreet

The BIG Lie!
The Lie That May Save America!
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
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Yes, I DO feel vindicated today. As one of the "deniers" of Global Warming -- or the other name they call it "Climate Change", the events of the past few days have proven what we deniers have known all along -- and that is -- that Global Warming is the biggest hoax ever perpetrated on mankind.

We warned all who would listen that the global warming movement was not about saving the earth. It is about power and about one world governance. It is about drawing all nations together to be ruled by a single government, the UN. (No matter that trying to rule all of mankind under a single government is a pipe dream, the megalomaniacs at the top of the global warming triangle or paradigm were/are set on grasping all the power over you and me, the people of earth, as they possibly can.)

Now, I don't know how the press in your neck of the American woods is treating this story -- but the regional paper in my neck of the Tar Heel woods is totally ignoring the story. They have egg splattered all over their face and they are trying to find some way, anyway, to save what little of the aforementioned face they can. It is utterly ridiculous! But there you have it. This is what happens when the "lefties" get caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

I'm no "seer" or clairvoyant, or anything like that, but, I would bet, if I were a betting man, that they are going to try to salvage this thing -- somehow. They have to. The US government (now under the management of socialists) along with the office of the President (also under socialist management) plus the entire west wing of the Executive Office Building, absolutely must do something to salvage whatever they can.

The socialists in the American government today are totalitarians. They believe they, and they alone, must have total power over you. And they do not think you are very smart, at all. They think they are they brightest of the bright and they have something akin to a "Divine Right" to rule over you. That is, if they actually believed in a divinity! They call themselves "Progressives" For those of you who have not lived as long as I have, back in my youth "Progressive" was the label used to denote members of the Communist Party. I declare to you now, nothing, much, has actually changed. If you compare the actions of the members of our current government to the actions called for by the communist world's leaders, you will quickly see that "OUR PROGRESSIVES" may still call themselves Progressives but in reality, they are communists. We have tried to be charitable here by using the less harsh term of "socialist." Maybe we should consider just letting it all hang out and begin the use of the "C" word to describe the folks now in charge of the US Government and be done with it.

I did not mean to get too far afield of our commentary about the hoax that is global warming. But I think you can see how important it is to understand how they all fit together.

The US President is flying to Copenhagen to, most likely, sign the Copenhagen Treaty on, or about, December 7th. It is a fraud. And THAT is being kind. When one inspects the document one will see that it's terms create yet another government for the purpose of subjugating all nations on earth. THAT is the One World Government we have warned about for so long on this site -- and -- which many other conservatives have warned about, as well. THIS is serious stuff! We Americans can only hope and pray that if the US Senate gets a chance to Advise and Consent on the Copenhagen Treaty for Obama, they will refuse to ratify it and toss it into the trash bin where it belongs.

What of the Cap and Trade bill set to be passed by the US Senate anytime now. It, too, is based on a fraud and all the bovine scatology included within it makes it a lie. It is not only a fraud, it will be one of the largest taxes levied on the people of the US in the history of the country! It, too, is all about power.

May we be so bold as to suggest that you write your Senator and remind him/her of the now open hoax that is Global Warming and that the Cap and Trade Bill is based on that fraudulent information and must be killed right where it is and never allowed to see the light of day. Then remind them, often, with repeated phone calls, and e-mails, and faxes, and yes, even telegrams. This is our freedom we are fighting for! It is our country we are fighting for! This is no time to be "weak kneed."

My friend, Alan Caruba, has more thoughts on this subject and we'd like to point you in his direction. Please read his article entitled: "Global Warming Fraud: Somebody Needs to Go to Jail." You will find it at his site "Facts not Fantasy" HERE.

America is in deep trouble, dear reader. Our very survival, as a single nation of 50 states, is at stake. We must neutralize the socialists who currently have a strangle hold on our government.

Reports of a possible second recession making this a "double-dip recession" are becoming more prominent now. Rumors of yet another stimulus package, being prepared by the congress for early next year, are floating around the Internet. We know that inflation is about to strike around mid-year. The ObamaCare healthcare bill will institutionalize healthcare rationing and, of necessity, will raise our taxes beyond anything we have ever had nightmares about. A National Sales Tax is looming just below the horizon along with another bill granting Amnesty For Illegal Aliens already within our borders. The socialists need the votes of those illegal aliens to retain their grip on power in the US. They intend to ride rough-shod over legal Americans in order to get them.

"These are the times that try men's souls..." wrote Thomas Paine in "The Crisis". Paine was one of our early pamphleteers. Today, I have no doubt he would be a blogger. Paine's words, meant to describe America's struggle with the Mother Country, Great Britain, for our freedom and independence, are equally adept at describing our situation today with our own government... you know, the one that took the place of the totalitarian government of King George.

John Donne penned the famous "For Whom The Bell Tolls." It is sometimes referred to as "No Man is an Island." Both titles are incorrect. The original title given the poem, or devotion, is: "Meditation 17, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions." It reads thusly:

"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were. Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee..."

... And that is where we find ourselves, today, my fellow Americans. The bell of freedom is tolling for each one of us. If we are to save this great country we must be about it with all haste. We are less than a year from the next congressional elections. After that the Presidential election will be looming.

Our immediate goal should be to bottle up the socialist government, in charge, in Washington until we can oust as many of them as we can next November and replace them with freedom loving conservative Americans. And we must do it again in November of 2012. We must also replace the President with a conservative in 2012, as well. This not something we'd LIKE to do. This is something we MUST do -- if we are to survive as a free nation.
It is time to save America -- and only Americans can do it.

J. D. Longstreet