How much government involvement do you want in your life?

I am basically a believer that government should be as absent from our lives as possible when it concerns our sex lives (as consenting adults), our personal choices as regarding substance use in the privacy of our own homes, our religion or other personal philosophies, freedom of information, and so on.

But, on the other hand, I am every bit as much a believer that government should be lavish in things such as (but not limited to):
The provision of universal education (and the decent payment of teachers), social services including universal health care on a single-payer system, affordable or even subsidized housing for the homeless, and the provision of sensible welfare programs.
The creation and maintenance of diversion programs to keep at-risk youth and other populations away from crime, and rehabilitation programs to refocus prisons away from punishment and into the provision of criminals with opportunities and tools to better themselves and be prepared to be productive members of society.
The creation and funding of adequate, humane, quality mental health facilities so that we don't either throw our mentally ill into prison or out onto the streets.
Protecting the environment, including prosecuting gross offenders and handing out fines that actually discourage corporations from treating environmental disasters as just cost-of-doing-business.
Investing in infrastructure-- not just doing minimal upkeep to prevent basic systems from breaking down, but investing in improvements and new systems to promote better, safer, cleaner, and greener infrastructure.
Investing in scientific research-- and I mean heavily, not just leaving the bulk of vaccine, antibiotic, antiviral, and genetics research to Big Pharma or university programs funded by Big Pharma, not leaving the bulk of aerospace research to the big aerospace corporations and/or the military, not leaving energy research to power companies and/or the military, and seriously funding space programs, not outsourcing minimal development and research to private firms.
Aiding and supporting family farmers and small independent farmers with tax breaks, incentives, interest-free or low-interest loans, and even subsidies to stay afloat, keep family farms in the family, to grow organic food crops instead of corn or soybeans for industrial food processing and meat production, grow industrial hemp instead of cotton or tobacco or logging timber, and raising free-range pasture-raised cattle and fowl instead of factory farmed meat.
And aiding and supporting small business ventures, by providing tax benefits, simplifying bureaucracy, and offering interest-free or low-interest startup loans, especially microloans, to new businesses without significant backing or capital resources, especially new businesses in minority and impoverished areas.

I also think the government needs to closely regulate big businesses, banks, financial traders, and international corporations. I think the government should be there to level the playing field, and to protect the citizenry from unscrupulous profiteers: by regulation, by vigorously enforcing anti-monopoly legislation and breaking up corporations or ensuring the diversification of businesses and service providers in given areas, and by tying good corporate citizenship in both environmentalism, fair wages and labor practices to American workers, and fair wages and labor practices to employees or contractees in foreign countries, to tax breaks, import and export duties, fee and surtax impositions, and the awarding of government contracts.

So basically, I think there is a place for more minimal governance, and a place for more maximal governance.

To my mind, I don't see much harm in the government being on the cautious side when it comes to public safety. OK, so it turns out some places got a travel ban that didn't need one. Because nothing happened, people are annoyed at the inconvenience. And if the government had been right, and NYC had suffered the worst blizzard in 150 years? Probably lives would've been saved, as lives have probably been saved in New England because of travel bans and other restrictions or emergency measures there.

That said, I can also imagine that the government might be a little less cautious in such matters if we weren't such a vigorously litigious society. I wouldn't be at all surprised if one factor among many that drove the decision to handle this latest weather crisis the way it was handled was the fear that if they did not act with extraordinary measures of caution, and the shit really did hit the fan, they would get sued from here to hell and back by people injured or otherwise negatively affected by going out into the storm like idiots because no one told them not to do it.

 

I wonder how much bans like this are put in place for the safety of government employees, specifically emergency services personnel, who would perhaps end up risking their lives trying to rescue members of the public?

 

I view it as government protection of the people and property. But, I think it comes down to how closely people listen and take heed the warnings from government. If NYC would have gotten the 15"-22" that was possible, would the people there had followed warnings from the government to stay off the roads with no penalty because it is the smart thing to do? The government of Boston probably did the same thing, but we aren't saying that they got it right and praising them.

 

I think ever since Super Storm Sandy city and state governments have gotten considerably more cautious.
Or maybe even Katrina in New Orleans.

With the arrival of storms that make ones in the past look mild (thanks global climate change) the government has to make some pretty serious decisions.
If they don't push the panic button and people die, there will be repercussions that will last for years.
It's better for them to look foolish for a few days than to have hundreds of people hurt or killed.
Or a major cluster like what happened in New Orleans.

Alaskans are the worst for this kind of thing.
They bitch and moan about how government has made people up here weak.
How this used to be a state of rugged individualists and now it's populated bu weaklings.
There's even a bumper sticker saying "We don't give a damn how they do it outside."
You've seen our worst export, Sara Palin.

But the minute the roads aren't plowed or we don't get what we think is our due from the government the bitching and moaning can be seen in the air for miles.
People want their cake etc. etc.
They want the support and care that strong government offers but they don't want the responsibility that comes with it.

 

Preach on, ma sista! Teachers/writers/quirky people/geeks/horny people/whatever unite!

 

as little as possible, but i know that aint gonna happen

 

If you paid for plowing via taxes and its not plowed you are allowed to bitch even if you are not in favor of paying taxes for plowing.

Its like people somehow claiming that Ayn Rand took social security that it invalidates her position, even though she PAID social security and was in fact forced to like we all are.

 

That's the screwed up part.
Alaskan's pay such a ridiculously low tax rate compared to the rest of you folks because of the oil revenues but they still can't resist bitching about it.
Here in Anchorage we don't have city sales tax, there is no state tax, the property tax mostly goes to support the schools, etc. etc.

Considering when I was a kid I remember skiing to school and people getting together to clear the roads themselves it's a weird thing to watch.

 

Being we pay insane property and state taxes here, some of the very worst in the country, I'd be quite happy to help clear roads instead

 

@Herculite, you have mellowed in your old age.

 

All of it. Thanks.

 

I want what I pay for, and that as we all know falls short. mostly what I see needs more Gov involvement, State and local as well, is Veterans. we pay and pay and then Veterans don't receive. It hurts me to see our military go do the things we can't or don't want to, just to be discarded by the red white and blue. too me it's black, so black.

 

I love cash.


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