http://mises.org/story/3098

This day, Labor Day, is the perfect day to reflect on how harshly Government deals with the working class and the poor.

Bastiat said, "The state is the great fiction by which everyone attempts to live at the expense of everyone else". It is also the great reality by which the privileged and the powerful become more privileged and powerful at the expense of small businesses and Labor.

How much higher would the standard of living of working men and women be were their tax burden not so high? Income tax, sales tax, property tax, both paid directly to Government and in the form of higher prices on goods and services, all reduce that standard.

How much higher would the real incomes of men and women in the workforce be were there no laws and regulations reducing (in some cases, eliminating) competition among businesses, when such reduced competition means fewer jobs and thus lower wages?

How much farther up the income ladder could the children of working individuals rise were education a matter for the private sector, given that government schools favor the children of the already-affluent?

Given that every war is "a rich man's war and a poor man's fight", how many children of laborers would still be alive today were it not for what Daniel Webster called "the wickedness of government" in launching conflict after conflict?

How much healthier would members of the working class be if government did not restrict entry into the healing professions, making health care and health insurance unaffordable to so many?

How much safer would working-class neighborhoods be if authorities did not legislate what substances we may or may not ingest, given that such legislation benefits organized crime and reduces the ability of law enforcement to combat murder, rape, burglary, and child molestation?

There are so many more examples, but the point is: Government works on behalf of the wealthy and works against the workers.

So this November, vote to protect working men and women, by voting to eliminate the statutes and regulations that harm them; vote to benefit the employed by moving politicians and bureaucrats into the ranks of the unemployed.

For a level economic playing field,

Jeff Daiell

Daiell is a 2010 candidate for Texas Governor

I'm really not sure I understand all this tax talk. The government taxes us to get money to do what it wants to do. But it seems like what they do — whether going to war or funding new projects — is never discussed in terms of money they have or don't have. I mean, Bush cut taxes, right? And the reduced revenue should have restrained him. But he spends on whatever he wants. The tax cuts didn't seem to reduce his power at all. Why is this?

http://mises.org/story/3093

It is absurd that the United States has continued to station 100,000 troops in Europe

http://www.cato.org/new/08-04/08-16-04r.html

School Days: 1958 vs. 2008

Scenario: Jack goes quail hunting before school, pulls into school parking lot with shotgun in gun rack.

1958 - Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack's shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack.

2008 - School goes into lock down, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.

Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.

1958 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.

2008 - Police called, SWAT team arrives, arrests Johnny and Mark. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it.

Scenario: Jeffrey will not be still in class, disrupts other students.

1958 - Jeffrey sent to office and given a good paddling by the Principal. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.

2008 - Jeffrey given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD. School gets extra money from state because Jeffrey has a disability.

Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.

1958 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.

2008 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy removed to foster care and joins a gang. State psychologist helps Billy's sister "remember" that she was abused herself and their dad goes to prison. Billy's mom has affair with psychologist.

Scenario: Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.

1958 - Mark shares aspirin with Principal out on the smoking dock.

2008 - Police called, Mark expelled from school for drug violations. Car searched for drugs and weapons.

Scenario: Pedro fails high school English.

1958 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, and goes to college.

2008 - Pedro's cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against state school system and Pedro's English teacher. English banned from core curriculum. Pedro given diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.
this has been surfing the internet for years and posted here for your enjoyment.

Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from Fourth of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, and blows up a red ant bed.

1958 - Ants die.

2008- BATF, Homeland Security, FBI called. Johnny charged with violating the Patriot Act, FBI investigates parents, siblings removed from home, computers confiscated; Johnny's Dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

Scenario: Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary. Mary hugs him to comfort him.

1958 - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.

2008 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in State Prison. Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy.

I would love to believe that if our economy collapses around the neck of Obama, the second coming of Karl Marx, Americans would finally wise up. However, I doubt this will happen. After all, the collapse of Russia and most of Eastern Europe has done little to show what an abject failure socialism is to these brain-dead morons. So, I doubt it would change even if it happens to us.

Most likely many Americans would scream even louder for government to save them. We would be sold a new bill of goods by the likes of Pelosi and Hillary that the plan would have worked if we had had the right people setting things up; i.e., them or a more cooperative Congress. The point is that, like most liberals, they will NEVER take responsibility for any of their failures. - Michael T.

RR note: It's not just liberals who won't take responsibility for their failures. It's all politicians. And, to be sure, people will scream louder than ever for government help, which is why an education revolution is the only thing that can head off an armed revolution.

"At the establishment of our constitutions, the judiciary bodies
were supposed to be the most helpless and harmless members of
the government. Experience, however, soon showed in what way
they were to become the most dangerous; that the insufficiency
of the means provided for their removal gave them a freehold
and irresponsibility in office; that their decisions, seeming to
concern individual suitors only, pass silent and unheeded by the
public at large; that these decisions, nevertheless, become law
by precedent, sapping, by little and little, the foundations of
the constitution, and working its change by construction, before
any one has perceived that that invisible and helpless worm
has been busily employed in consuming its substance. In truth,
man is not made to be trusted for life, if secured against all
liability to account."

-- Thomas Jefferson (letter to Monsieur A. Coray, 31 October 1823)

With a bit of sadness, "Farewell" to the best Chair Dallas County ever had. I wish You and Sarah the best.

tim

My hero, Walter Williams, reviews Professor John R. Lott's "Freedomnomics: Why the Free Market Works."

http://townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/08/20/economic_myths

Individual freedom - the genius of our civilization.

http://www.freeople.com/grouppost/the-libertarian-temperament