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Below are short essays I have written on the subject of the Role of Government at the federal, state and local level. These essays originally appeared as Random Musings on the IMNSHO Home Page on the date noted.

August 3, 2006, evening.  Has every branch of government lost it? The Executive Branch has been on a downhill slide for a long time. The heads of the Departments of State and Defense are talking about giving support to the Lebanese Army? That's moronic. The Lebanese government is supporting terrorists. What are we thinking? 

And the Legislative Branch? The Senate just voted for $2 billion to build a fence 370 miles long on the border between the U.S. and Mexico and 500 miles of vehicle barriers. One quarter of that amount could put a system in place for employers to verify an employee's immigration status and for ICE to enforce it. Give employers six months to stop hiring illegals or shut them down and put the owners in jail. Within six months, illegal immigration would no longer be a problem. You wouldn't need a fence. If you fail to remove the incentive that keeps them moving here, no fence, no matter how long or how high, will stop them from coming across our borders. Our Congress treats us like mental defectives. We want positive change. We need immigration reform, incentives for industry to fix the energy problem to reduce dependence on foreign oil, support for WWIII (The War on Global Terrorism). We get a crusade against gay marriage, limitations on the First Amendment preventing flag burning, pandering, pandering, pandering.

The judiciary is making ridiculous decisions based neither in legal precedent or on the Constitution. The Supremes have decided that terrorists are covered by the Geneva Conventions. Oh, really? Have they even read the Conventions? Terrorists are stateless and are not covered. Do we need a new Convention? Obviously. But we should not make up new laws and treaties from the bench. If our legal system simply does not cover situations like terrorists, we need new laws. Those come from the Legislative Branch, God help us.

And the Fourth Estate? Broken beyond repair, liberal beyond retrieval. Destroying Bush is priority one, everything else is priority two or lower. Drinking terrorist Kool-Aid ^TM is the latest predictable habit. Tote that barge, jerk them tears. Bash Rumsfeld, accentuate the negative, eliminate the positive. Gloom, doom.

July 20, 2006, evening. Recent events have me thinking. What is the role of the federal government in our lives? Is the federal government supposed to rescue thousands of its citizens for free instantly every time a conflict breaks out in some troubled corner of the world? Is the government supposed to fund all medical research? If the government should fund some medical research, who should decide what gets funded, and what does not? Is the federal government supposed to step in and immediately take over before, during and after every natural disaster and replace everybody's losses for free, even if people refused to buy insurance? Should the government prevent you from gambling on the Internet, just because some people can't control their spending? Should they require you to get your gambling fix in Las Vegas or Atlantic City or on a riverboat or a reservation instead? Is it the job of the federal government to stop you from smoking, drinking, gambling, overeating and having risky sex? If you do those things, is it the role of the federal government, any level of government, to pay for the damage you do to yourself if you are acting in a self-destructive manner?

What about state government? Should state government pay welfare to people who refuse to work, look for a job, get free training for a job, or refuse to participate any any work-related activity whatsoever?

What about municipal government? Should it subsidize billionaires so they can build facilities so their sports teams can make more millions of dollars? Should the taxpayers foot the bill for an activity they may never watch or care about? Should municipal government kick old people out of their homes so that a developer can tear down their house to turn the land over to a developer or a retailer, just because they can collect more taxes? Should municipal governments let people have power for free if they stop paying their bills, and it is hot outside?

On CNN alone this evening, we have people complaining because the U.S. did not evacuate 25,000 people from Lebanon as fast as they liked. The Beirut airport is completely unusable, and the country is blockaded by sea. You have to feel for those who did not anticipate military action, but the ungracious and selfish attitude of some evacuees truly brands them as ugly Americans.