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Better fat than fascist

~ Considerations into the failures of over goverance & the successes of freedom

Tag Archives: government

GW Bridge Scandal Endemic of Government

26 Wednesday Feb 2014

Posted by BetterFatThanFascist.com in Personal Freedom

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bridge, Christie, freedom, George, George Washington Bridge, government, Greg Smith, scandal, Utah Highway Patrol trooper Lisa Steed

By Greg Smith

“. . .Absolute power corrupts the best natures.” – Alphonse De Lamartine

If Republicans across the country are wise, they will use the recent politically motivated closure of a portion the George Washington Bridge to their advantage. Though this wasteful, childish and foolish act was borne from a Republican governor’s administration, abuse of power – often mixed with idiocy — is a bipartisan pastime which grows concomitantly with the size of government.

How many Americans have never dealt with a police officer, revenue official, department of motor vehicle or child welfare worker, postal employee or anyone in the government monopoly who has blatantly abused his or her authority, safe in the knowledge there was almost no recourse to the arrogance? These encounters differ from instances of government bureaucracy in which the bureaucrat is simply following the rules, silly or frustrating as they may be, and enter the realm of petty tyranny. These are two constants in the mathematical equation that equals government.

The more government grows, the more ‘lane closures’ the average American faces. Beyond just annoyances these actions have a cost. An article at Time.com estimates if the artificial slowdown the week of September 9 doubled the average commuter’s drive then it cost drivers an added $7 million.

While a lot of money, on a per person cost maybe that isn’t a great deal. So consider the case of Michael Choate, who was arrested and charged with DUI by Utah Highway Patrol trooper Lisa Steed, who was fired from the force in November 2012 after courts found her testimony unreliable and a co-worker decided Steed’s arrests showed a pattern of dubious cause.

According to an Associated Press article from Feb. 22, 2013, Choate was wearing a Halloween costume when pulled over by Steed. Choate was charged with DUI despite three Breathalyzer tests showed a blood-alcohol level of .00. The arrest cost Choate almost $4,000 to get the charge dismissed.

While reviewing 20 of Steed’s DUI arrests, a supervising trooper reviewing the reports found what he referred to as a “pattern” – alluding to what looked like misconduct by Steed, who in 2007 had been the state’s trooper of the year. The supervisor then reviewed the report of an arrest Steed made two days prior. Her report said the suspect’s hand’s were shaking, but the supervisor actually had assisted in the arrest and knew while the suspect’s blood was drawn on the side of the road he sat “calmly.”

Steed charged with DUI numerous drivers who had no alcohol or drugs at all in their systems, but her reports gave the same stock entries concerning personal observations that could not be verified. Often those charged in these cases feel obligated to try to plea bargain, but even when charges are dropped drivers incur expenses from towing, legal fees, missed work, not to mention public embarrassment.

In 2009 alone Steed arrested 400 people for DUI. She told a Deseret News reporter “. . .you make a ton of stops, and you’re going to run into” people driving under the influence.

The ever increasing list of laws and regulations provides a parallel opportunity for abuse. And while police protection is not something that should be managed by the private sector, operating a bridge easily could. If a private company had been running the George Washington Bridge under a contract that rewarded traffic flow and punished delays, simple financial incentive would have nixed the foolish decision to close off a portion of the capacity of the bridge.

Private entities do not possess higher morals than government, but they do possess a more dependable motive, the profit requirement. Private enterprise faces competition, government does not. This is why the former is always striving to offer more for less, while the latter generally offers the same for much more.

For the ideologues ready to chalk the bridge lane closure to somehow endemic of Republicans: “Spitzer!” A list of people in the public realm who have involved themselves in such extremely unethical behavior – who would act in private as they would never dare in public – would be voluminous and show sleaze, graft and criminality to be a truly bipartisan arena.

For Republicans this is an opportunity to show a forthrightness generally lacking in politics and perhaps finally – finally – learn how to deal with a scandal. The American public recognize and value intellectual honesty in politics, rare as it is. Hoping the scandal is forgotten may help one Republican who probably doesn’t need it. Discussing the scandal and the ramifications of over governance will help many Republicans who do need it.

Society causes itself undue economic, social and political harm through the constant increase in the power of government over the people. Republicans who just want this scandal forgotten miss out on an opportunity to acknowledge the maxim “government that governs least governs best” applies to all government, not only when it is convenient. ©

Greg Smith is a freelance writer and political consultant who lives in Bantam, CT. His blog is found at http://www.betterfatthanfascist.com.

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It Is Always Morning in America

24 Monday Feb 2014

Posted by BetterFatThanFascist.com in American Resurgence

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debt, freedom, government, Morning in America, prosperity

By Greg Smith

“Well the eagle’s been flyin’ slow, and the flag’s been flyin’ low, and a lot of people sayin’ that America’s fixin’ to fall.” – Charlie Daniels, “In America”, May 1980.

Concerned about America’s future? It is high time for some positive thinking and strategizing for the country we want in a decade and beyond. This nation has faced great problems since its inception. Examining the nation’s history provides perspective into the American capacity for growth and development when properly governed. Fact is, we can overcome. We always have.

Through history most societies changed little over seven generations. Even when there was progression instead of regression, advances were generally minimal and marginal. A time traveler from nearly any period of human history going back 140 years usually would have noticed little difference. But even with industrialization factored in, considering the metamorphosis of 1803 to 1945 should make any American confident we can face any challenge, solve any problem.

In 1803 the U.S. population was about 6.5 million, mostly clustered on the East Coast. New York City, by far the largest city by population, still had less than 100,000 residents in 1810 — there were farms in Manhattan into the 20th Century. The amount of land in the U.S. that could have been considered ‘developed’ would have been measured in the hundreds of square miles against the 3.79 million square miles the nation would eventually encompass. And when President Jefferson completed the Louisiana Purchase he had to send a military expedition from 1804-1806 headed by Meriwether Louis and William Clark to explore the heart of the continent just to find out what lay west of the Mississippi River.

The ensuing 139 years included the burning of Washington in 1814, substantial contentions surrounding slavery and a brutal civil war, Indian wars, Southern Reconstruction, labor riots and robber barons, construction of the Panama Canal, several shorter and one Great Depression and the attack on Pearl Harbor. There were plenty of problems along the way.

By 1939, by choice, the U.S. was a nation with an army smaller than that of Rumania — yet still lacking for basic amounts of materiel. Six years later the United States was the world’s leading military power. Even while fielding massive armies of young men – workers – in the European and the Pacific theaters America’s economy fed and sustained its own and much of its allies’ militaries. The U.S. Navy was larger and considerably more powerful than the combined navies of the rest of the world. U.S. air forces had been supplied with thousands of the then highly sophisticated B-29, along with almost two hundred thousand other combat aircraft that eventually ruled the skies, plus nearly another ninety-five thousand support aircraft.

The U.S. was the only nation able to fight large, sustained campaigns in both hemispheres. And in 1945, the massive $2 billion investment in the Manhattan Project paid off making the U.S. the only atomic power.

An argument these were merely causes of industrialization ignores the fact all the other industrializing nations completely existed in 1800. The United States which by 1914 was producing over one-third of world industrial output – roughly equivalent to the next three nations of Germany, Britain and France combined – by and large did not exist at the beginning of the 19th Century. Americans overspread a continent creating new political entities and societies while almost simultaneously turning wilderness into an economic engine of unprecedented magnitude. The Census of 1890 was the first to find the American Frontier no longer existed. This was less than a decade before the U.S. Navy, using modern warships that were antecedents of the battleship, defeated the Spanish at Manila Bay.

If you need a slightly more recent example, consider the period of 1981 to 1991. In January 1981 Iran still held 52 American hostages. The U.S. military was considered a “hollow” force while the Soviet and other Warsaw Pact militaries enjoyed considerable advantages in size, especially in armor and artillery. Aside from air power American military technological advantages had eroded. Inflation and unemployment were rampant – the misery index reached 21.98% in mid-1980. Inflation from 1970 to 1981 was 112.4%. “Rust Belt” became a household word. The U.S. economy and international influence appeared in freefall.

Only a decade later, a U.S.-led coalition squashed the world’s fourth-largest military in the most lopsided fashion imaginable. Shortly thereafter America was left as the only superpower. The U.S. economy had long-since healed and was in the midst of a transformation focusing more on technology and services. In the ensuing years U.S. military and economic dominance caused some to label America a hyperpower and hegemon. Between the reforms and bold actions of the Republican Congress from 1995-99 and President Clinton’s willingness to work with them the budget was balanced and national debt actually began to be retired. Unemployment reached a low of four percent, considered to be full employment. In short, it was one hell of a turnaround.

This is not empty nationalism but facts that illustrate of what America – what any nation in which individual social, political and economic liberty prevails — is capable. Today the largest challenge we face is our debt and deficit. The federal debt-to-GDP ratio is now roughly 1-to-1. It actually reached 1.2-to-1 shortly after the end of World War Two. According to an article by Matt Phillips in The Atlantic, the U.S. was able to push the debt-to-GDP ratio down to pre-war level of about 0.43-to-1 by 1962.

The path back to long-term prosperity is simple: Less government, more personal and economic freedom. Cut regulation, slash the tax code, get out of the mortgage business – in essence stop trying to make the world perfect. Government has long since passed the point where its intervention causes more problems than it solves. History has provided the recipe for success, we need only follow it. ©

Greg Smith is a freelance writer and political consultant who lives in Bantam, CT. His blog is found at http://www.betterfatthanfascist.com.

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