Are you sure we don't need goverment services in the USA?

[ahka]

Every year I am getting more and more frustrated with the political views and cultural changes in this country.  The information that is available to people is so lame and no one wants to use common sense!!!!   The lies and dirt politicians bring out onto each other on TV and radio is disturbing!

I understand that USA is a capitalistic society and I have nothing against it, however, there is a place for government in this country and there is a place for free market business.  Lately, nearing a possible state shut down, I have been hearing a lot from people about government services being useless and needless.  So, let’s see how useless and needless government services are:

 

Do you want to have safe roads to drive on every day and after snowstorms, floods or after natural disasters?

Do you want trains, planes, buses and other transportation to be safe? (sorry, I forgot that you all have private roads and drivers and planes and helicopters with private airports).

Do you want criminals walk around without any punishment and continue doing what they are doing?  (They might stop at your house some day or wait, I forgot, you will hire bodyguards!)

Do you want all of the prisoners to be out of prisons?

Do you want 911 service come to you when you need it? (oh, wait, you have your own doctor, fire fighter and of course the bodyguards in your residence).

Do you want poor mentally ill people walking around you without needed medications?

Do you want sick and contagious people continue spreading the diseases without any intervention?

Do you want to live in safely built houses with safe electricity and safe pluming?

Do you want your children being able to get good education even if you don’t have enough money to get them into private school?  (oh, I forgot, you are so rich you don’t care about public schools and kids who attend them).

Do you want colleges to be affordable or only for the richest people who can afford it (like you are)?

Do you want other countries to bomb USA and start the war just because we don’t need government military?

Do you want to get helped when you or your family member’s medical bills destroy all of your life’s savings?

Do you want to get unemployment benefits if you lose a job?

Do you want to be protected from scammers?

Do you want to see more people in poverty and on the streets?  (Oh, I forgot again, you live in gated communities and don’t care about that).

Do you think that immigrants don’t need any English classes to jump start before they can become contributing members of this country?

I don’t even want to bring up pension and elderly issues… So, when you can’t work anymore and your health issues start eating all your hard earned money do you want to end up on the street without a roof above your head, food and medical care? (it is already happening to some people).

 Do you think that all of the free market businesses are interested in taking care of these things and not screw you up by let’s say as one example, picking the cheapest materials to build your house and charging you as for the most expensive ones and doing it quality below current safety codes without having anyone on your side after it crashes and kills your kids?  Or you want to say that you must know everything about every single occupation including construction not to let scammers scam you?(Oh sorry, I forgot, you are so rich, you will hire the most expensive contractor with the best reputation in town and give him unlimited budget to finish your home).    Anyway, this is not the direction I was planning to go, so let me go back.

Yes, in this country there is place for Government services to protect us and make everybody’s life safe and better.  It means that everyone must pay taxes and contribute into our safety.  What I am the most surprised to hear is from the Congress people or people who are in various government offices that they are against government.  Are they against themselves?????  I don’t see any common sense in that.   How did they end up in those offices in the first place?  What’s the motivation behind getting into those offices?  I thought they were supposed to represent people who vote for them.  

What is clear to me is that people who are working and making good money  today, think only about themselves in that moment.  They can believe that they don’t need any government services until (G-d forbid) something bad happens to them or their family members or until their employer decides to restructure the company because it needs to refresh it's employees with younger and sharper minds.

And yes, there are people who cannot help themselves; does it mean they and their children have to die or live on the streets?  Would you want homeless people walking around your neighborhoods?  Do you want their children to be homeless and hungry and uneducated and continue the poverty (mostly it leads to crime)?  Oh, yes?!  You do?  Good Luck to you!!!  Oh, wait, you don’t care…

I agree that welfare benefits should not be just given to people from generation to generation but what can they do if there is no way out?  You will say: “get a job!”  Would you hire some of these people to work for your company?  Why not?  Some of them are mentally or physically ill or just not educated and unskilled.    What about their children?  Who is going to watch the kids? Who is going to educate them?  What kind of education would they afford if there are no public schools? 

Recently, we had a conversation about welfare and kids’ education and the idea came out that the parents who receive welfare benefits must be responsible for their kid’s education success and be paid if their kids pass their classes at the given level.  If these parents cannot get out of poverty, let the kids get out of poverty.  I am not talking about the lowest of the low drug/alcohol addicts who use food-stamps to buy drugs/booze instead of feeding their kids.  Are you so heartless that you would say that those kids don’t need help and be saved from those parents? 

Do you still think we don’t need government?

People, please, use your common sense and be human!!!

I am not a democrat and I am not a republican and I don’t like any politicians these days. 

I am for common sense!!!  And yes, if you ask me about education I would want to have national standard for all schools and if your school can go above the standard, great!  But the national standard must prepare students for college level education and should not pass kids to the next grades if they didn’t really pass.

So, next time you complain about taxes, think about it as you are putting the money for yourself, for your children and your parents for the rainy day when you would need to be safe in your neighborhood, in your house, on the roads in the cars, on the airplanes, in the hospitals, during the retirement, outside of this country, in the schools and colleges, when you call 911 and when you get financial aid to attend college or send your kid to college, etc… 

Government and democrats do not want or wish to monopolize the whole country.  And you know what? I would rather allow professional government workers decide on my medical bills rather than overblown insurance companies who have guts to refuse insurance if one has pre-existing condition.  People with pre-existing condition cost more to the insurance companies and reduce their profits, so would you suggest to let them die without any medical care or go bankrupt?  Is this nation turning into Nazi ideal (meaning kill all that can’t take care of themselves)? Is it really what the values of this country rolling to? :(

Everyone must pay taxes at appropriate levels! There must be some government services that take care of the neediest and protect all of us in this country from the inside and out and you know what? It costs money and all of us must contribute!!!

 

The world is a dangerous place not because of people who do evil, but because of good people who look on and do nothing about it.
-- Albert Einstein

Comments

[vbminsk.livejournal.com]

Do you still think we don't need government?

Of course, we need government, but in a lot more limited way than you imagine. Many things you've mentioned can and should be handled (a lot more efficiently and effectively, btw) by private entities.

Your paragraph about education reveals your country of origin :). I had similar brand of idealism at first. What you propose is unrealistic, filled with heavy beurocracy, and will definitely not gather public support. Personally, I think the whole system of public education beyond grammar school must be dismantled. As well as many other (http://vbminsk.livejournal.com/42187.html) government services.

You most definitely sound like a socialist... sigh...

Кстати, я почитала другой ваш постинг насчет того какая я сво... и как мы вас бедную неправильно поняли и т.д. и т.п. Я совершенно не раскаиваюсь. Так что вот...

[agusovsky.livejournal.com]

Thank you for your attention to my posts. I am glad you agree that we do need government. It would have been great if all people were ethical and focused on the quality of their work instead of the profits only. Unfortunately our society is not on that level and many (not all of course) "private entities" as you said, are not as efficient because they don't like to spend money on quality products and on quality personnel because that cuts the profits. In fact, they would rather take their factories for example to China, Mexico, or other countries to cut the cost on workers and on taxes.
Yes, I do believe that our socialist education was very good. One thing that the world must learn from instead of following America (I am talking only about secondary education).
I care about all people and not only about my bank account, if that is called socialist, than I am one of them and don't see anything sad or wrong with it.
There is place for government to take care of the needy and our safety and there is a free market to drive our economy (only sadly it has been driven away from this country).
I respect people and don't call people names and you again misunderstood me. It seems to be the theme of your LJ communication.