Bigger Government? Smaller Government?
The US continues to grow exponentially in wealth and population every year yet many conservatives wish for less government intervention. Is it possible that the reason they want less intevention (with the exception of homeland security, of course…spying on our own citizens is apparently worth the expense) so that it allows a greater possiblity of taking advantage of the average worker/consumer? As an example, without some (limited) government oversight over business practices, what’s to stop a business from demanding a 60 hour work week and denying overtime compensation? How can we make sure that lenders don’t take advantage of home buyers again? Child labor? Stock market manipulation by large financial institutions in order to effectively “steal” investor profits by the continuous use of naked short-selling and the elimination of the “up-tick” rule (and the SEC continues to ignore this).
Government has a part to play (and must play) in our lives and as it gets more and more complicated and difficult to oversee the insitutions that essentially control our mutual welfare, its glaringly apparent that we need to expand government in some areas in order to protect our economy and the future welfare of every America but we can certainly make sufficient strides in cutting back other areas that contribute little or no benefit to the majority of Americans ([Un]Patriot Act, etc.]. Thoughts?
Tony: The US was only 13 states back then…I honestly think that conditions have changed rather dramtically since then, wouldn’t you?
Yes – in a nutshell conservatives want less oversight of business, while wanting more control over individuals.
Conservatives don’t want less government! what we want is a government as envisioned by the founders of this country. If you look to the government to protect you from everything it will become your master. Look at monarchies and socialist countries.
Beware what you wish for.
What you cited in your first paragraph already has oversight through fair labor laws, and the SEC. Something you don’t hear about…which is why Congress isn’t blowing the whistle and grand standing regarding the mortgage crisis is that this whole crisis was CAUSED by government regulating how many bad loans banks HAD to take.
I’m not following you at all on the stealing profits point. All corporations have ownership shares. These shares are sold on the stock markets. All balance sheets, Income Statements, Cash Flow statements are overseen by GAAP. Selling short, selling long??? People do that. Some are better than others…..so??? Doesn’t sound like you’re too acquainted with the business world. Somebody who knows even less has gotten your ear.
We don’t need government to expand welfare so that more and more people can climb on the backs of the tax payer. There are more people than ever before already on the backs of the taxpayer. We don’t need government to put more on. What we need is more personal responsibility.
“…(with the exception of homeland security, of course…spying on our own citizens is apparently worth the expense)…”
That is precisely the case. What conservatives truly want is not “smaller” government but rather a shift of resources from social welfare (economic equality) to social engineering (adherence to strict societal mores).
It is because we have such an expanding population that simply reducing the size of government is logistically irrational. What some conservatives argue against, too, is the increased power of the federal government, as they tend to see the United States not as “one” but rather a collective of individual “mini-republics” that share a common bond. They also believe that decentralizing of government would result in more effeciently-run services for citizens, though, historically, that has not been the case as past attempts at Confederacy (and decentralization) have ended in utter failure. (Imagine that chaos what would ensue if each of the 50 states decided to coin their own money and apply radically differing regulations.) Thus, there is inevitably a push for a more universal standard to be applied nationally, especially considering that the vast majority of corporations, nowadays, operate and sell their products & services across the entire nation and not just limit themselves to a single market.