I completely agree that the question “is government action an appropriate solution to this problem” is something to be *discussed* and decided based on facts and circumstances, not on ideologies (whether Marxist or Objectivist). That’s how we can make progress. I believe people on all sides will be surprised to find that Obama is more of a pragmatist than an idealogue on these questions.

Which, in the end, goes back to what I always say. The voters get the government they deserve. If they do not care to ask such questions before the election, they have little justification to complain later.

By the time they’re elected, it’s too late to ask the question.

I have no problem with a privitized jail. We actually have quite a few “correctional facilities” here in GA. They tend to operate at a lower cost/inmate yet have a better operational track record than county/state run facilities.

But police forces and national defense should not be run with a profit motive.

Personally, I’m not a fan of privitized toll roads, either. If government is going to use eminent domain to acquire something, I object to the spoils being placed in the private sector.

The problem with most of these elected scumbags is that they will answer “Yes” and “My Level” to pretty much all questions.

While only the libertarian loons think privatized armies are a good idea, there really isn’t much the Federal Government _should_ be doing, and the GOP _should_ be able to spend a good decade or two pairing the Federal Government down to the levels where these questions begin to matter. Alas, instead of that we’ve gotten idiots like Bush, Rove and Gingrich who are all about using Government to win re-election.

I agree with you and hope you did not think what I said was meant to criticize all government. I am against privatization of things that have no business in private hands, like jails, police, defense, etc.

Right now, we’re stuck between those that hate all government and want it to go away, and those that believe government is a proper solution to everything so long as it meets a social conservative litmus test.

I think part of the Republicans becoming relevant again will have to include a discussion of “Is Government action the appropriate solution to this problem”, and secondly “What level of Government should be providing this service”.

I don’t think any Republican wants to privitize our military, or eliminate it. It’s a proper role of the Government, and at the Federal level.

There is honest debate about the appropriateness of the Department of Education. But instead of campaigning on “eliminating the Department of Ed”, why are we not focusing this debate as “Think how much better off your children would be if federal bureaucratic dollars were sent directly to your child’s classroom”.

Government has its proper roles. There are things that don’t need to be privitized. But we have to do a better job of picking our battles, and understanding what it is we supposedly believe.

The reason I always cringe at the “run government like a business crowd” is that anything the government does that can be run like a business should be run by a business.

When government is bloated an inefficient, it keeps people from wanting things done by the government. When it is efficient and streamlined, you have Nazi Germany.

Senator Obama could also immediately overturn the policy Preside Bush put in place to prevent taxpayer funding of new embryonic stem cell research. That could happen even though embryonic stem cells have never helped a human patient and have had problems when used in animals.

Pro-life advocates are concerned Obama will push through a bill in Congress, known as the Freedom of Choice Act, that would make unlimited abortions throughout pregnancy the national law by codifying Roe v. Wade.

However, the bill would go further by overturning all of the abortion reduction laws in all 50 states — including measures such as informed consent, parental involvement and conscience clauses for medical professionals.

Thats exactly the problem. The GOP has gone from Government is the problem, to inefficient Government is the problem. That is why they reorganized DHS to create efficiency. And you got Katrina.

Government will ALWAYS be inefficient. It will ALWAYS be bloated, stupid, and harmful. The GOP needs to purge itself of the big-government ass-cancers that think Government works when Republicans get to pull the levers of power.

The TRUTH attacks people’s character and scares people. Had the TRUTH been discussed openly, this election would have been very different. Fears of being labeled politically incorrect obscured the TRUTH, and now we have a president-elect who is an unknown quantity and, as Newt so eloquently stated, has done absolutely nothing but “talk and write.”

Too many Americans think Obama is going to give them something. They’re in for a rude awakening. He can’t deliver. If he governs by his stated policies, America will lose jobs, and businesses will suffer. Our only hope is that he can’t do what he wants to do. We’ll be doing well to hold on to the struggling economy we have now for the next 4 years.

For Republicans, this must be the end of an era. If we are to re-emerge to power, we must elevate leaders who are truly committed to efficiency in government and to the freedom to take risks and be responsible for their outcome. We must reject those who are most interested in their own wallets. Lott, Hastert, Delay, and their crowd must be swept into distant memory as a new generation of leaders in the molds of Jindal, Palin, Crist, Demint, and Coburn lead the charge.

For America to be strong, principle must triumph over emotion.

This is great book on went wrong with the GOP. Joe Scarborough would be very good for the GOP.

Rome Wasn’t Burnt in a Day: The Real Deal on How Politicians, Bureaucrats, and Other Washington Barbarians are Bankrupting America

Synopsis

Scarborough served as one of Florida’s Republican members of Congress from 1994 to 2001, and is now the host of the nightly program, Scarborough Country, on MSNBC. In this critical analysis of Republicans and Democrats alike, he offers an insider’s view of how “the White House, Congress, and Washington bureaucrats conspire to ensure their political survival while sticking American taxpayers with the bill.” No subject index. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland,

OR

Publishers Weekly

Elected to Congress in 1994 as a Contract with America revolutionary, Scarborough spent six years representing the Florida panhandle, and currently hosts the MSNBC political talk show Scarborough Country. His book is part memoir, part political treatise that purports to explain how various “Washington barbarians” are bankrupting America. Full of partisan and reformer zeal, the freshman class of 1994 set out on its crusade to reform Congress and reduce government spending. However, the crusaders met their Saladin in President Clinton and his skillful use of the veto pen. The House freshmen were further disillusioned when their leadership opted for compromise rather than continued confrontation following the government shutdown in 1995. Scarborough bitterly compares the Republican leadership to the pigs in George Orwell’s Animal Farm-indistinguishable from the corrupt Democratic bosses they had ousted. His account of the Republican Congress is well told from the perspective of the House freshmen, but Scarborough never asks the hard questions about why the Gingrich Republicans became so unpopular with voters. Similarly, the book’s promise to reveal the “real deal” about why government spending continues to rise, is nothing more than the revelation that interest groups, lobbyists and politicians collude on government spending because it is in their mutual self-interest. (Sept.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.