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Lerner’s Plea
May 23, 2013 | 147 comments
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Flatten the IRS
May 20, 2013 | 20 comments
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Stifle This, Mr. President
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Investing in Word Abuse
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A Further Perspective
Washington’s Super-Sized Ego
Nice try, Mayor Bloomberg, but remember: Look to Washington for all the answers.
(Page 2 of 2)
Of course, this will take some of your money, and probably not only for the hotline itself. Imagine the fun that advocacy groups and community organizers will have crafting the regulations that will some day be necessary for the hotline’s operation. They will be determining who gets to be paid to staff the hotline, and what related community based activities will be funded as the scope of the operation inevitably spreads (you know, the way government programs always do).
Even more (costly and) entertaining, we’ll have to have experts involved in determining just exactly how the hotline should be helping parents with the “wide range of issues” to be addressed. What will the federal uber-nanny allow the hotline deputy-nannies to say to parents about “positive discipline techniques”? And what “effective communications strategies” will be scripted out for dealing with, say, questions about birth control or sexual preference or religion? Mayor Bloomberg can take heart that in instructing on “personal care” and “substance abuse” the hotline can go after irresponsible soft drink swilling.
Clearly this is a program with very great potential. Just think, now we’re finally going to have federal parenting standards! Maybe even a hotline for kids to report their parents for inappropriate words or deeds (oh wait, hasn’t that been tried somewhere before?). This will be a marvelous engine for the encouragement of even greater dependency on the federal government. That composite woman Julia on the Obama campaign website ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
Please Try This Experiment
Here’s an experiment I’ve found instructive, and which I commend to
readers.
Whenever you watch a discussion on your favorite network, in which pundits or politicians blather on about some societal ill, listen to the solutions they support. If some sort of government program or action is proposed, see if anyone suggests that perhaps the remedy need not involve the government at all. Or that, if any government action is called for, it should be at the state or local level. Safety warning: Do not hold your breath waiting for such statements.
I think you’ll find that in Washington folks very seldom ask, at least outside of Supreme Court arguments, whether there should be any limits to what the government should be called upon to do on our behalf.
So we should salute the genius of our keepers in The Nation’s Only Boom Town. The answers they have for our problems may or may not work for us, but they are guaranteed to enhance the wealth and power of our ruling elite.
About the Author
Ray V. Hartwell, III is a Washington lawyer and a senior fellow at the Alabama Policy Institute.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (8) | Leave a comment
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spike59| 6.13.12 @ 6:37AM
Ronaldus Magnus had it EXACTLY right:
The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'
Brooksifier | 6.13.12 @ 6:39PM
The great irony is the Greatest Generation set up the Welfare State (the Welfare State is what the author is alluding to) in the 1930s.
FDR took the oath of office when Reagan reached the age of 22--
whatever they did later, the Reagan Generation constructed the Welfare State in the first place.
MelvinNC| 6.13.12 @ 7:26AM
One thing for sure as the sun coming up in the morning, Mayor Bloomberg is one world class horses backside.
Why do I have that nagging feeling that this has Michelle Obama's chili cheese fries greasy finger prints all over this. Even Bloomberg wouldn't be as stupid as this to arbitrarily decide upon himself to conduct a draconian edict.
Maybe Jack Nicholson was right in Batman, "What that city needs is an enema."
Louis Jenkins| 6.13.12 @ 9:00AM
Our government with a Parental Help line? In my day, as a child, my parents stuck to the "spare the whip, spoil the child" line of thought. I toed the line, well most of the time. It could have been much worse, kind of like the Spartans raising their childern. The problem is the government sticks it's nose into the business of almost everything. And it protects the rights of almost everything and everyone. A big, really big, nanny state. An enema would be too kind.
Von Mises Jr| 6.13.12 @ 9:39AM
You want to see the government's solution? It is called modern day serfdom: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzEEgtOFFlM
LindaF | 6.13.12 @ 10:51AM
I do realize that parents can go over the line on discipline. For those FEW parents, there are already solutions - which will address THOSE parents' issues.
For the rest of us, as long as the punishments are reasonable (for the pre-K to elementary crowd, a spanking or long talking-to; for the middle and high school crowd, well, there are always garages and toilets to be cleaned, house arrest, lose of privileges - car, phone, etc.), it's none of the government's business how you raise your child.
WillyP | 6.13.12 @ 6:06PM
If you call the parenting hotline, as a parent, essentially what you would be doing is reporting your self. There will be a knock on your door...
RJ| 6.13.12 @ 10:59PM
To reduce excessive legislation, we should establish a new branch of government with power similar to the presidential veto. This new branch could revoke any legislation that has been in effect for no less than five years if it determines that it does not serve the national interest. If Congress disagreed, it could enact new legislation.
Consistent with the Founders philosophy of distributing power to minimize its abuse, this branch could consist of nine members with the following groups each selecting three members: 1) the House of Representatives voting by state delegation; 2) the State Governors by majority vote; and 3) the President by appointment. By the end of each session of Congress, each group would select one member to serve for a single six-year term. A majority vote by the members would void legislation. To limit improper influence, members would be prohibited from holding local, state or federal office for no less than six years after their term expired.
The idea of a new branch of government is novel and therefore some may see it as contrary to traditional conservatism, but its potential to eliminate excessive legislation is much stronger than any abuse it could create. Since our society is comfortable with a presidential veto before legislation goes into effect, why not have a subsequent opportunity to "veto" legislation after it has an unsatisfactory track record?