HOW MUCH GOVERNMENT IS TOO MUCH GOVERNMENT?

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There was an interesting discussion on the Glenn Beck show Friday afternoon. Glenn was discussing political viewpoints and knowing your own mind.

Most of us claim to want less government intrusion into our lives. Many even consider ourselves libertarian. And yet, when the rubber hits the road, we tend to hedge and admit that we want government regulation of certain substances and certain behavior.

Beck and Judge Andrew Napolitano examined the results of that regulation. It was quite an eye-opener.

Here are just a few things to consider.

1) Should the government have the right to control gun ownership and to require firearm registration? The authors of our Constitution did not find it necessary for the government to regulate gun ownership, and yet now our government tells us what weapons we are permitted to own, how many guns we are permitted to purchase, and requires us to register those firearms.

What business is it of the government if I purchase a firearm? Will regulating MY gun ownership prevent the use of firearms in criminal activity? Of course not! When guns are regulated, or even banned, criminals have no problem obtaining weapons. In fact, the most dangerous places in America are “gun-free zones” such as universities, for criminals know there will be no armed citizens to stop them, should they decide to open fire, as in the case of the Virginia Tech massacre.

Gun regulation and registration serve no purpose except to provide the government with a list of gun owners whose weapons they can confiscate, should they deem them too “dangerous”, as tyrants often do.

2) Should the government regulate drugs? If so, which drugs? Narcotics? Antibiotics? Sudafed?? Has government regulation of opiates prevented illegal drug trafficking? Of course not. The so-called war on drugs was conceived decades ago, yet we still have a problem with illegal drugs in this country. As a criminal will obtain a gun, so an addict will obtain drugs, no matter how heavily they are regulated.

I think we’re all aware that the prime result of current government regulation of the pharmaceutical industry is that it takes decades and millions of dollars to bring a new drug to market, and when that drug does finally make it through all the bureaucratic red tape, I’ll need a prescription to be able to purchase it at a greatly inflated cost.

And where will government regulation end? Now, some cities have outlawed transfat and are considering regulating salt and sugar, for pete’s sake! The end result of government regulation always is more and more intrusion into our lives.

Many of you are probably complaining that without government regulation, unscrupulous men will take advantage of the naïve or uneducated. Yes, you’re probably right. Wouldn’t that be a great incentive for people to educate themselves and to check out products before they buy, rather than rely on the government to coddle them?

eBay is a partially-free market. Its main source of regulation, outside the already-existing government regulations, is the feedback of the customers. If a seller is unreliable or sells shoddy merchandise, the suckers who were taken in by him say so publicly on the site. That is a great incentive for sellers to deal fairly with their customers.

Or take your local community. Do you know a good auto garage, one who does good work and charges fair prices? How did you find out about it? That’s right: word of mouth. A mechanic who does poor work will soon have no work to do.

This same dynamic would work with regard to drugs, alcohol and other government-regulated substances. If alcohol were not government-regulated, would we have more alcoholics? Of course not! All government regulation does is add frustration to our lives and, here in Pennsylvania, force us to purchase our beer and wine at government-run or –licensed distributors, instead of simply picking it up at our local grocer.

3) Should the government set “safety standards” for automobiles? Why should the federal government force me to purchase a car with airbags or seatbelts? Why should the government force me to use a “child safety seat”? Such things did not exist when I was a child, yet somehow I managed to survive without government intervention.

Should the government set mileage and emissions requirements for auto manufacturers? Don’t you think the car-buying public is smart enough to choose a vehicle that gets good mileage, if mileage is an important consideration? And if it is NOT an important consideration to me, why should the government force its opinion on me?

We began as a free nation, but look at us now. Where have our liberties gone? Government has extended its reach into each of our lives. We can hardly take a step without government regulation, oversight or control.

The Obama administration is going full speed ahead to try to place even more regulations and restrictions on our lives. If they have their way, I will be sitting in jail for failure to purchase government-approved health insurance. That’s patently absurd and yet, that’s precisely what Congressional Democrats are trying to force down our throats.

We need to stop government intrusion into our lives! And we need to stop it now!

© 2010 by Libbi Adams. All rights reserved.

GAYS IN THE MILITARY

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During his campaign, Obama vowed to change the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy and to allow gays to serve openly in the military. He reiterated his intention to change this policy in this year’s State of the Union speech. His exact words were, “This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are.”

Like everything else that flies out of his mouth, Obama seemed to give no thought to the real-world consequences of his statement. As a matter of fact, gays are not now barred from military service; they are simply barred from openly flaunting their sexual orientation.

Additionally, no one has a Constitutional “right” to serve in the U.S. armed forces. The left is fond of creating “rights” out of thin air. As a matter of fact, service in our all-volunteer military is a privilege, not a right.

The “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy has been in force for nearly two decades. The military has long contended that to allow homosexuals to serve openly "would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability."

The forced intimacy of a combat unit is stressful, at best. To force such a unit to accept an openly gay member could easily strain the unit to the point where its proficiency might be compromised.

And then there would be the matter of unwanted attention from a member of the same sex. How many straight men appreciate those kinds of advances? None that I know of.

Time was when gay meant happy and homosexuality was considered a perversion. Today, the politically correct thought police insist that we all pretend that attraction to the opposite sex is normal, even healthy, instead of something to be stigmatized. They have gone so far as to teach our children that homosexuality is a normal “lifestyle choice”.

Homosexuality is not normal nor acceptable. It never has been. And to force our military men and women to pretend that it is acceptable is to place an unnecessary burden on our fighting forces. The purpose of our military is the defense of the nation. Our fighting forces should not be used for liberal social experimentation.

Marine Corp Commandant James Conway, Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz and Army Chief of Staff General George Casey all have expressed serious concerns about how allowing homosexuals to serve openly in the military will impact morale, unit cohesion and fighting efficiency.

It would be refreshing if, for a change, our president gave some intelligent thought to the real-world consequences of the seemingly endless stream of words that pour from his mouth.

Or is he really so stupid as to think such a change will have no consequences?

© 2010 by Libbi Adams. All rights reserved.