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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bearcatbob who wrote (116136)	7/22/2009 8:58:20 AM
From: Paul Kern	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 541978

Feel good big government will not work. How come feel good big government countries out export and out produce us on a per capita basis? Feel free to ignore these facts in favor if your fantasy conservative outlook. en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

To: Bearcatbob who wrote (116136)	7/22/2009 9:06:36 AM
From: Steve Lokness	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 541978

Bearcat; Feel good big government will not work. Sure it does. The first thing I do in the morning is turn on my coffee pot with electricity brought to me by the government. Then I turn on the computer and thanks to the wonder of technology devloped with a bunch of government money - the internet - I am immediately connected to the world. If I go into town on my rural road, I am doing so on government built and maintained roads. The library, the police, the fireman, the hospital all government. Now you may want to abandone all that and live in a cave - I don't. Go visit a socialist country Bearcat - try sweden or Norway. That socialism you so fear is functioning just great and their people are happier, healthier, richer and a heck of a lot more culture than we do. steve

To: Bearcatbob who wrote (116136)	7/22/2009 9:09:53 AM
From: JohnM	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 541978

The above is the issue of our day. Feel good big government will not work. You've made that position clear, Bob. The problem I have with it is, that as stated, it's an ideological position rather than a politically pragmatic one. What's the evidence that the growth of government slows down the economy? One would need to specify more clearly just what portions of governmental growth do that. Is it simply more money to "government?" Or is it specific functions? And what does one mean by the economy? Is the government part of that or is it only the private portion? Etc. As I recall, it's not true that the "economy" does better when the Reps control the WH than the Dems; in fact, it is the opposite. On several measures of the economy. The genuinely classic one is the Clinton years by contrast with the Bush II years. But there are others as well. I would prefer to think of a wise role for government in the economy and a dumb one, or rather, more clearly, a continuum from a wise one to a dumb one. So that one looks as specific functions performed in specific ways and questions whether the larger society benefits from them. The economy would be only one measure. Modern economies simply require some government role. That's why the libertarian purists such as Ron Paul or the sophisticated philosophers such as Robert Nozick in his book, Anarchy, State and Utopia are simply wrong. It just won't work in complex societies.