In a nut shell: what do you believe the role of the government should be?

[Petunia]

Looking forward to your replies..sorry if this has been touched on before.

 

[Pandora]

The Federal Government should work on main innerstate Roads, Military, Defense
Nasa. They should have a roll in making sure items and people that come into our country are safe.

States should take care of schools regular roads fire and police

I am sure I have forgotten some important things but you get the idea

the basics

 

[chestnut]

Government should protect people from criminal or abuse or negligence from corporations.
Secure the borders
Military
Interstate roads - infrastructre
Aid in natural catastrophe - hurricane - flood - fire - tornado - (if too big for local)

 

[Pandora]

Government should protect people from criminal or abuse or negligence from corporations.
Secure the borders
Military
Interstate roads - infrastructre
Aid in natural catastrophe - hurricane - flood - fire - tornado - (if too big for local)

ah yes the negligence from corps, I forgot that one and the natural disaster stuff too

I agree with those

 

[Little-Acorn]

The founders of the country said that the reason we create governments, is to protect our basic rights. I see no reason to deviate from that definition... nor expand it.

The founders named some of them, of course, the big 3, and implied that there were others.

Those others do not include medical care, education, housing, or freedom from fear or want.

If government ever starts to confine itself to the boundaries they laid down, it will be about 1/4 the size it is today. That is, 1/4 the size it was on Jan. 19, 2009.

 

[chestnut]

Agreed.

 

[Little-Acorn]

Actually, before answering, I should have asked: Which government? The big one that can effect the whole country (aka the Federal govt)? Or state govts? County or city?

My comments above referred to the Federal government. State or local govts can do more than those things if thheir people want them to... in part because there is competition of a sort, between states, and between cities. But the Federal govt has no competition within the U.S., and so its roles must be artificially limited, say by a "Constitution". What a concept, eh?

If a person, or a company, does not like the way things are being run in a state (schools suck, too many taxes and restrictions etc.), they can move to another state and take their tax money with them. It's up to the states to entice them to stay. So states (and cities) have a natural mechanism to get them to do what their citizens want, if they want to have a citizenry.

But the Fed has no such mechanism, or very little at least. If they raise taxes, who ya gonna call? Can't call the cops, they ARE the cops. And the only way you can avoid the taxes, is to leave the country and give up your citizenship. And despite what some say, despite its faults, the U.S. is still the most attractive country on earth - witness how many people want to enter the country every year (millions), versus how many want to leave (hundreds).

So the central government (Fed) must be strictly limited by law, while the states don't have to be.

Which government did you mean in the OP?

 

[Andy]

The Federal government should be limited to national defense and security issues.

States should take care of natural disasters. The state level government would have more knowledge of what disasters they should expect and plan for, as well as having their own fleet of people / equipment to deal with said disaster. This will prevent a largely clueless national government program, from taking weeks to even get to the cite, and then not really be all that effective at helping anyway.

Although I don't actually support government run interstates, it would be more costly to move off that system now. It should be limited to what has already been built though. Dare I also say, they should make all of them toll roads with uniform fees. That way the users, and only the users, pay for the upkeep of the roads.

 

[Petunia]

I meant the federal government.

DH & I were discussing this & made a list of what we thought it should be responsible for...it turned out being a pretty short list.

Protection, aka military, borders
Upholding the constitution
Highways
FDA
CDC

 

[Andy]

Not even sure I like the FDA really. They haven't done a very good job in my opinion, while at the same time they have artificially driven up the cost of many products. Now we complain about the price, and want socialized medicine.

 

[TruthAboveAll]

Looking forward to your replies..sorry if this has been touched on before.

Per the Constitution, that pesky little document that all our federal elected officials and their assigns are sworn to defend and uphold:

CONGRESS

- Regulate commerce
- Establish rules for citizenship
- Establish bankruptcy laws
- Coin and regulate money
- Standardize weights and measures
- Punish counterfeiting
- Establish a postal system
- Pass copyright and patent laws
- Establish federal courts
- Punish crimes on the high seas
- Declare war
- Raise and finance armed forces
- Establish rules for armed forces
- Call up state militias
- Administer the seat of government
- Administer federal lands
- Pass laws for the implementation of the above

AND CRITICALLY (and condensed), FROM THE 10TH AMENDMENT:

- "The powers not delegated to the United States..., are reserved to the States..., or to the people".

PRESIDENT

- Emergency powers (typically like FEMA or declaring disaster areas) but subject to judicial review
- Conduct foreign affairs, including making treaties (with advise & consent of Congress)
- Appointment powers (ranging from Supreme Court justices to the White House chef; some with Congressional consent and approval, some without). Figures vary on the number, but generally from 7,000 - 8,000 positions.
- The power to grant clemency
- Executive privilege (typically to withhold information from the public in matters of national security)
- Civilian command of military forces
- Can convene Congress

JUDICIARY

- The U.S. Supreme Court, and other courts established by Congress
- Can review laws and treaties made
- Can review lower court(s) convictions, sentencing and rulings.
- Review controversies between states
- Impeachment trial of elected federal officials
- Additional restrictions from the 11th Amendment

We need to immediately step the efforts to educate people on this. As President Coolidge said:

"Unless the people, through unified action, arise and take charge of their government, they will find that their government has taken charge of them. Independence and liberty will be gone, and the general public will find itself in a condition of servitude to an aggregation of organized and selfish interest."

We are precariously close to his inarguably prophetic warning.

 

[Andy]

I'd eliminate the postal service. That might have been necessary in the 1800s when the east coast had no idea what the west coast was doing, but in todays world, the post office is no longer a requirement of national security.

The modern post office should go the way of the Pony Express.

 

[Petunia]

As for the FDA..so you think there should be no regulations on new drugs coming to the market? If you think yes there should be regulations, but not set by the fed gov., then by who?

 

[TruthAboveAll]

I'd eliminate the postal service. That might have been necessary in the 1800s when the east coast had no idea what the west coast was doing, but in todays world, the post office is no longer a requirement of national security.

The modern post office should go the way of the Pony Express.

Yes, it could probably be 100% privatized and do just fine. But in reality, it would take a constitutional amendment to do so. When Nixon reorganized it in 1970 it removed it from a cabinet position to the board-of-directors' style organization it is today.

Overall, it is probably the most effective department of the federal government. It's left pretty much alone, with regulations already in place and minimal changes needed. In addition to being addressed specifically in the Constitution, it is an integral part of interstate commerce. It has also been a crucial part of global communications, although the Internet and electronic age is diminishing that aspect.

Privatizing USPS has been an on-and-off topic for years. I think it's something that bears examination, but there are issues that must be dealt with. I've not read this thoroughly yet, but this article seems to have some great information and perspectives regarding its subsidized status.

 

[Pandora]

I'd eliminate the postal service. That might have been necessary in the 1800s when the east coast had no idea what the west coast was doing, but in todays world, the post office is no longer a requirement of national security.

The modern post office should go the way of the Pony Express.

I agree with that but there would have to be some rules like who ever bought them out would have to deliver at least once a week to hard to reach places