John DeLello, you’re right.
The Republicans haven’t done anything useful for this country with their current policies.
But then, as you correctly take credit for, the Democrats are responsible for Social Security. Those monetary responsibilities would require that we tax everyone at a rate of at least 60% just to break even. FDIC, of which Fanny and Freddie are the result and caused this economic mess by giving money to people who could never afford to repay it. The FDA, under its tenure drug costs have skyrocketed while deaths due to unsafe drugs has increased beyond even “herbal” unregulated medicines and are at rates never even conceived of even in the age of snake oil salesmen. NASA, one of the greatest wastes of money in history, including shuttle launches that were supposed to cost $15 million, and that now approach $750 million and are more dangerous to fly than Apollo 11. Medicare, under which the cost of medicine went from below the rate of inflation to more than 130% of inflation year over year, and as a part of which gave the AMA a monopoly that has artificially raised the pay of doctors by creating a false shortage (while doctors who refuse Medicare undercut the system by more than 80%); and last but not least, free public education, which has resulted in one of the worst education systems in the world and is a system in which teachers get to set their own pay, determine their own goals and successes, and has eliminated all choice by creating a government-run monopoly from which only the wealthy can free their children.
But no, the Republicans haven’t done anything of note either, they’re religious Democrats. That’s the point! Only when Libertarian values are followed, most recently, at least in part, under Reagan, and more profoundly in the formation of this country, do truly amazing things happen and the standard of living for every American is improved. It is precisely from the belief that everyone cannot only live their lives but thrive if left to do so, and that the only just and right interaction between individuals is fair trade that has allowed this country to lead the world to wealth and prosperity through freedom.
The mistake of both Republican and Democrat is their shared belief that because charity is a good thing, it is just for the government to enforce it.
It is not. It is slavery at the barrel of a gun, enforced by those that have a monopoly on force.
One is a choice of free will, the other handcuffs and jail time if you refuse. One is an act of kindness while the other is one of dictatorship and enslavement.
Allow free men to choose, and they will do right. Force men to act without choice, and they will fight back and work diligently to avoid being stolen from – even if it’s the government doing the stealing.
We need to return to rewarding hard work instead of rewarding the best beggar; to rewarding ideas, and the ability to freely trade on those ideas; and just as importantly, to punish bad ideas by allowing people to fail, forcing them to pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and try, try again.
That is what it means to be free, and that’s the nation we once were. It’s time we return to those values and never look back on these dark days of America except to learn the lesson of slavery from which our forefathers freed us only a few short generations ago and to which we are eagerly embracing yet again.
Thank you,
James Hancock
North Walpole, NH
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