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So your contention is that compared to 1789, we've moved more than halfway (1->6->10) to where North Korea is? And that ~45% of the country wants to be more li

by jbooth 13y ago

So your contention is that compared to 1789, we've moved more than halfway (1->6->10) to where North Korea is? And that ~45% of the country wants to be more like North Korea? At 8/10, does that still leave room for private toilet paper manufacture, or are we drawing the line at private lemonade stands? Where do the slave labor camps come in, is that at 7.5 or closer to 9?

crusso 13y ago
Naturally, my 1-10 scale is loose and collapses a number of dimensions into 1... but yeah, I'd say that the government and particularly the federal government is in our everyday lives in bizarre and unnecessary ways. At very least, you could look at government spending over just the last 100 years to see that it's at least 4 times bigger. Add in an extra factor for regulatory burdens and yeah, 6 is about right. The Federal government is a catastrophe and the real shame is that it didn't start out that way. And that ~45% of the country wants to be more like North Korea? Unwittingly, yes. They think of it in terms of safety nets, equality of outcomes, security, enforced politeness or political correctness, and government coerced egalitarianism... but to have those things they require strengthened centralized control of the population. Where do the slave labor camps come in, is that at 7.5 or closer to 9? You joke, but the recent jackbooted thuggery of the Federal government to shut down parks that have never been a part of any government shutdown (and even some that are privately funded) shows that the Feds are bullies who are high on their power. It demonstrated how vindictive and untouchable they can be when the media helps them. It demonstrated more than ever why we shouldn't allow them to control healthcare more than they already do.
- jbooth 13y ago
  "They think of it in terms of safety nets, equality of outcomes, security, enforced politeness or political correctness, and government coerced egalitarianism..." Nobody thinks of anything in those terms aside from dreadlocked college communists. Stop listening to talk radio -- we're right here, all around you in this country, you can ask any Obama voter (outnumbering Romney voters) what they think instead of taking Glenn Beck's word for it.
  - talmand 13y ago
    Funny, I listen to NPR and hear those subjects mentioned in those contexts all the time. If the average Obama voter doesn't believe in those things then they voted for the wrong candidate.

by jbooth 13y ago

crusso 13y ago

Naturally, my 1-10 scale is loose and collapses a number of dimensions into 1... but yeah, I'd say that the government and particularly the federal government is in our everyday lives in bizarre and unnecessary ways. At very least, you could look at government spending over just the last 100 years to see that it's at least 4 times bigger. Add in an extra factor for regulatory burdens and yeah, 6 is about right. The Federal government is a catastrophe and the real shame is that it didn't start out that way. And that ~45% of the country wants to be more like North Korea? Unwittingly, yes. They think of it in terms of safety nets, equality of outcomes, security, enforced politeness or political correctness, and government coerced egalitarianism... but to have those things they require strengthened centralized control of the population. Where do the slave labor camps come in, is that at 7.5 or closer to 9? You joke, but the recent jackbooted thuggery of the Federal government to shut down parks that have never been a part of any government shutdown (and even some that are privately funded) shows that the Feds are bullies who are high on their power. It demonstrated how vindictive and untouchable they can be when the media helps them. It demonstrated more than ever why we shouldn't allow them to control healthcare more than they already do.

jbooth 13y ago
"They think of it in terms of safety nets, equality of outcomes, security, enforced politeness or political correctness, and government coerced egalitarianism..." Nobody thinks of anything in those terms aside from dreadlocked college communists. Stop listening to talk radio -- we're right here, all around you in this country, you can ask any Obama voter (outnumbering Romney voters) what they think instead of taking Glenn Beck's word for it.
- talmand 13y ago
  Funny, I listen to NPR and hear those subjects mentioned in those contexts all the time. If the average Obama voter doesn't believe in those things then they voted for the wrong candidate.