Individual Liberty — Individual Responsibility 

Things I’d like to see

Perhaps a better title is “Things I’d like to see but never expect to see”. That’s because while I think that these things would in the long run be good for our country the chances of my ever seeing them are extremely unlikely.  Even so a man can dream, can’t he?

Eliminate Social Security and Medicare

Democrats are fond of telling senior citizens that Republicans want to eliminate Social Security and Medicare. Republicans are fond of denying that. Me, I’d like to get rid of the programs altogether, at least at the federal level. If the states want to provide these “safety nets”, then let them, but I think we should stop making people in California pay for a safety net for people in Florida – or vice versa.

I’m well aware that the Supreme Court of the United States of America has said that these programs are constitutional. That doesn’t mean that they didn’t make a mistake, or rule in fear of reprisals or court packing. If you read the text of the U.S. Constitution and you study the history of the times you, like me, will probably not be able to find anything in the Constitution that justifies either of these programs.

But, of course, these programs are not going away any time soon. They suck up a huge portion of our funds, and that portion is going to keep growing. I neither expect to live long enough to see the benefits I’ve supposedly accumulated nor to live long enough to see these programs eliminated. I’m in my fifties too. By the time I should be eligible to receive benefits Congress will shift the goal posts again and I’ll have to wait even longer to start drawing them.

Eliminate the federal Department of Education

Even the federal government acknowledges that there’s no justification in the constitution for this one. If you go to the national archives web site you’ll find this little gem.

Q. Where, in the Constitution, is there mention of education?
A. There is none; education is a matter reserved for the States.

In spite of this we have a federal Department of Education and unconstitutional laws like “No child left behind”.

I’d really like to see our federal government stop doing things there is no constitutional authorization for it to do. I just know though that I’ll never live to see it. People like to call Ron Paul a fool for advocating the elimination of this unconstitutional governmental agency – well, call me one too. I share this at least with Mr. Paul.

Eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency

This is yet another federal agency that constitutionally has no right to exist. For that matter the federal laws that accompany it don’t either.

Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t like pollution. I like clean air and water. I hate the smog that fills the air in the Salt Lake area. That doesn’t mean that it’s the federal government that should be deciding how Utah deals with this. The problem is in Utah – let Utah deal with it. As it stands now, the federal government actually gets in the way of Utah’s doing things.

And don’t get me started on so called “environmentalism”. A lot of people like to “appear” to be concerned but environmentalism is more show than go. We need someone like Jesus to come through the “green” movements tents overturning the money changer’s tables. Electric cars are touted as cleaner – tell that to the Chinese living near the areas where the rare earth minerals that are used to make the motors are mined and processed. And let’s face it – if CO₂ is the problem, electric cars aren't really the answer since about half of our electricity is produced in fossil fuel burning power plants.

But, I digress.

There’s a whole lot more… but this ought to make a few people angry with me. Not only that, but it’ll give me a chance to write more later. If I get around to it.