Brief · September 6, 2010
The Foundation
"[A] wise and frugal government ... shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government." --Thomas JeffersonCulture
"Can all of America's political problems be solved by returning to constitutional, limited government? The answer given by many conservatives and libertarians is a resounding yes. Reading the Founding Fathers, the answer would generate a more complex answer. In the Federalist Papers, the authors dedicate considerable space to history's failed experiments in self-government. John Adams wrote in 1798, 'Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.' What Adams suggests is the people's character impacts our government's character. The early generations of Americans were independent-minded folks. Help for those in need came from the church, the family, or the community. Citizens expected only a few limited functions to be performed by the state. In 21st century America, we expect the government to provide Social Security retirement and disability, unemployment insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, student loans, and Pell Grants. Parents expect their children to have a free public education through thirteen years of school. ... We cannot effect a permanent reduction in the size and scope of government, or meaningful government reform, unless we change our culture's demand for the government to provide our every need. ... This isn't to say government must or can solve our culture's problems. However, those on the right who think conservative goals for limited government can be achieved through passing economic legislation are spitting in the wind. We will never have a limited government until we have a culture that allows for one." --columnist Adam Graham
The Gipper
"Our game plan is still the best one in town. The notion that government controls, central planning, and bureaucracy can provide cost-free prosperity has now come and gone the way of the hula-hoop, the Nehru jackets, and the all-asparagus diet. Throughout the world the failure of socialism is evident." --Ronald ReaganGovernment
"Just three entitlement programs -- Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security -- account for two-fifths of federal spending, representing 10 percent of gross domestic product. Without reform, they are expected to consume half of the budget and about 20 percent of GDP by 2050. It's true that the fiscal outlook for Social Security, which has about $18 trillion in unfunded liabilities, is not nearly as bad as the fiscal outlook for Medicare, which has a long-term shortfall five times as big. ... Social Security is neither a pension fund nor a means-tested assistance program for the needy. It is a pay-as-you-go system of transfer payments that takes money from relatively poor workers and gives it to relatively affluent retirees. ... [D]espite all the talk of a '$2.5 trillion surplus,' Social Security is indeed 'in trouble,' thanks to a shrinking ratio of workers to retirees and repeated raids on its revenue by legislators looking for easy spending money. The year of reckoning is not 2037, when the program's imaginary 'trust fund' is expected to run out -- it is now, since the cost of benefits already has begun to exceed annual revenue. There is nothing in the trust fund but IOUs from the federal government, which can be redeemed only through cuts in other programs, more taxes or more debt. ... Transforming Social Security into a true pension program by letting workers invest part of what they now see disappear in payroll taxes is ... anathema to the 'social solidarity' crowd, since it would let people go their own way instead of forcing them to participate in the government's Ponzi scheme." --columnist Jacob SullumI love the Patriot Post! They have great articles that speak truth about the matters! And that's the All Right Idea!!