Bureaucracy in Action

Posted on 2008-09-10 by David

If you’ve ever wondered why smaller government is better government just look at this:

. . . the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture USDA tests about 1% {of slaughtered cattle} for BSE, or Mad Cow Disease. But Creekstone Farms wants to test 100% of the cattle they process, at their own expense. The USDA won’t let them . . . their larger competitors could feel obliged to do the same, and this additional expense may lower their profit margins or raise the price of beef.

Which do you think is more dangerous – Mad Cow Disease, or:

Mad Bureaucrat Disease – insane regulations that sacrifice freedom and the public good for the interests of a few powerful corporate lobbyists.

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Third District Debate

Posted on 2008-09-09 by David

I enjoyed going to the debate at the Sutherland Institute between Jason Chaffetz and Bennion Spencer. A one-on-one debate between the candidates is much different to attend than a “meet the candidates” kind of affair for city council when six candidates are seeking three seats without any specific match-ups. Until now those were the only kind of political “debates” I had ever attended in person.

In his opening remarks, Chaffetz said, “If I can’t build a grassroots network then I shouldn’t be your congressman.” I thought that was an interesting assertion but upon reflection it is true. A congressman should be firmly connected to the people he is representing. With senators we have double representation (in theory) and yet Senators should still be connecting with people but a congressman has no business trying to represent people if he cannot connect with them and be supported by them.

I was slightly surprised at how many things both candidates agreed on. They both support real immigration reform (verbally) – in fact they both listed it as the most important domestic policy issue facing the nation. They both want to see No Child Left Behind repealed. Chaffetz made the comment:

We don’t have a revenue problem (in the Federal government) – we have a spending problem.

Moments later Spencer repeated the same statement – verbatim.

Of course they differed in how they would approach many issues, but they seem to have comparable views on the basic issues that we need to confront for Utah and the nation.

When asked about what they saw as the most important improvement for our political system Spencer suggested term limits (without specifying any idea of how many terms he might have in mind) while Chaffetz listed transparency (he lists the names of all his donors no matter the size of their donations – as an example).

When they were asked whether they thought there was a Constitutional right to healthcare they both unequivocally stated that there was no such right in the Constitution. I was disappointed as Spencer went on to argue that although there was no “right” we should do it anyway because it was the right thing to do. That kind of attitude is detrimental to the rule of law. Just because it is the right thing to do does not mean that government is the right tool to do it. If it is the right thing, but not the province of government then the correct approach is to encourage people to do it – not force them.

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IOUSA

Posted on 2008-09-08 by David

With bailouts such as Bear Stearns and Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac there could not be a better time for the Peter G. Peterson Foundation to come along with the backing of $1 Billion (from Peter G. Peterson) and the insider expertise of David Walker (former Comptroller General of the United States) to help citizens and policy makers to take a serious and informed look at the financial crisis that is coming our way from decades of reckless spending and fair promises from our government. Actually there is one better time that they could have come along – before our Republican Congress decided to test the political power of acting like tax-cut and spend Democrats. We are at least 10 years further from a solid fiscal footing thanks to their reckless spending.

Posted in culture, National | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Oh Goody – More Debt

Posted on 2008-09-06 by David

This is not a compete surprise, but when I saw the news that the government is going to bailout Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac I was disappointed at that one more proof that we don’t really live in a free market. I might not be so disappointed if our government leaders were to approach this as a way to ease the economy back (since it’s going backwards anyway) rather than fooling themselves (and many citizens) into thinking that somehow this takeover bailout could move the economy forwards.

Somewhere along the line every person in this country needs to accept the first rule of economics 101: the economy will contract sometimes – plan for it, prepare for it, and accept the truth when it happens. Only by accepting that truth will we have any hope of not making things worse by shutting our eyes and avoiding reality.

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McCain’s Words

Posted on 2008-09-05 by David

As I said about Obama last week, I will measure a McCain presidency against his own words. Rather than trying to analyze what McCain said last night I will simply quote those portions which I would hope he is held accountable for while adding only those clarifications of how I interpret those words.

. . . after we’ve won, we’re going to reach out our hand to any willing patriot, make this government start working for you again, and get this country back on the road to prosperity and peace.

This had better not be the Rovian definition of "patriot" (anyone who agrees with us). And there had better be as much emphasis on "peace" as there is on "prosperity."

I don’t work for a party. I don’t work for a special interest. I don’t work for myself. I work for you.

I hope McCain understands what that means. Americans must take the responsibilities of liberty along with the rights. I may work for my children, but that does not mean that I spoon feed my five-year-old.

I fight to restore the pride and principles of our party. We were elected to change Washington, and we let Washington change us. We lost the trust of the American people . . . when we valued our power over our principles.

We’re going to change that. We’re going to recover the people’s trust by standing up again for the values Americans admire.

We believe in low taxes; spending discipline, and open markets. We believe in rewarding hard work and risk takers and letting people keep the fruits of their labor.

We believe in a strong defense, work, faith, service, a culture of life, personal responsibility, the rule of law, and judges who dispense justice impartially and don’t legislate from the bench. We believe in the values of families, neighborhoods and communities.

I hope for an emphasis on "spending discipline" and I hope that open markets is broadly interpreted so that it includes more than financial markets. I hope that there is an emphasis on personal responsibility and I hope they recognize that "the values of families, neighborhoods and communities" are going to vary between families, neighborhoods and communities. The values of San Francisco should not shape, or be shaped by, the values of Tipton, MO (for example).

We need to shake up failed school bureaucracies with competition, empower parents with choice, remove barriers to qualified instructors, attract and reward good teachers, and help bad teachers find another line of work.

When a public school fails to meet its obligations to students, parents deserve a choice in the education of their children. And I intend to give it to them. Some may choose a better public school. Some may choose a private one. Many will choose a charter school. But they will have that choice and their children will have that opportunity.

Any education reform that runs through the NEA is guaranteed to fail as far as I can see. The monopoly must be broken. I like the line about helping poor teachers find another line of work.

I will draw on all my experience with the world and its leaders, and all the tools at our disposal – diplomatic, economic, military and the power of our ideals – to build the foundations for a stable and enduring peace.

We need to change the way government does almost everything: from the way we protect our security to the way we compete in the world economy; from the way we respond to disasters to the way we fuel our transportation network; from the way we train our workers to the way we educate our children. All these functions of government were designed before the rise of the global economy, the information technology revolution and the end of the Cold War.

One of my biggest beefs with McCain is that he honestly believes that these things shouldbe functions of government. Many of them should not be functions of government (fueling transportation, training workers).

I will ask Democrats and Independents to serve with me. And my administration will set a new standard for transparency and accountability.

I’d love to see that, but I won’t be holding my breath.

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New Domain

Posted on 2008-09-04 by David

I have been wanting to get a more suitable domain for my site for some time and I have been wanting to do some less political writing (family journal type) at davidjmiller.org. I finally took the plunge and purchased pursuitofliberty.net (I’m looking into getting pursuitofliberty.com, but while the current owner mulls multiple offers I decided to move ahead with something). I am leaving all the old posts on the previous domain, but that will start to be updated less frequently and less politically. I have imported all the posts of any political nature here and will continue to write politically as I have been doing – minus the really non-political stuff.

There are a few plugin glitches to work out (no classic posts listed at the moment) and I have removed the “politics” category since everything here is politics to one degree or another. I hope that everyone can make the transition smoothly with me so that all the great comments keep coming.

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Talk About Tolling

Posted on 2008-09-03 by David

As another group of local government officials stands up in opposition to tolling the Mountain View Corridor (MVC), I was surprised to read this in the Salt Lake Tribune:

While the Utah Department of Transportation has explored user fees as a funding option – one that could cost some west-siders up to $200 a month – state Transportation Commission Chairman Stuart Adams said his panel hasn’t seriously considered it.

"I don’t think anyone wants to take a tool out of the toolbox and throw it away," Adams said, "but it isn’t a tool that has been talked about."

I could not believe that the Transportation Commission has not discussed tolling yet. The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) has and there are rumors that congestion pricing will be recommended for freeways nationally.

It’s about time that the Transportation Commission started talking about this tool – and they should apply it across the board. Ideally, I-15 and the MVC should each include congestion pricing along-side a free lane or two (meaning always free rather than only free when traffic is low).

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The VP Picks

Posted on 2008-08-29 by David

Now that both running mates have been announced I can share my reactions. In both cases I think that the candidate made a good pick for their individual positions. I have previously written positively about both of the running mates. I said that Sarah Palin, with a record of standing up to politics as usual, was the kind of candidate I would like to back (even though she was not among the presidential candidates). I said that Joe Biden had proposals that showed pragmatism and promise of rational thought.

Biden offers an image of experience for Obama. Palin offers an image of youth and augments the faded image of independent thinking that McCain once had. Some people complain that Palin is too inexperienced to be in line to succeed an aging president – that line of reasoning backfires on the Democrats since Biden is not at the top of their ticket.

The fact is that Obama and Biden appear to be well suited to each other and to complement each other in their individual strengths. Likewise, McCain and Palin appear to be well suited to each other and to fill the gaps in their respective resumes. Truthfully, by June of next year both the President and the Vice President (whoever they are) will have more experience in foreign policy than any of the candidates do now.

I agree with what some analysts have said – that the VP selection is more important in this election than in most – but even so I don’t vote for the vice president unless I can support the president.

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Obama’s Words

Posted on 2008-08-29 by David

If Obama becomes president I will measure his presidency against his own words – starting with his acceptance speech. (I will measure a McCain presidency against his own words as well.) I caught parts of the speech while I was driving a moving truck last night and though I did not hear every word, there were a couple of parts that were noteworthy.

What — what is that American promise? It’s a promise that says each of us has the freedom to make of our own lives what we will, but that we also have obligations to treat each other with dignity and respect.

It’s a promise that says the market should reward drive and innovation and generate growth, but that businesses should live up to their responsibilities to create American jobs, to look out for American workers, and play by the rules of the road.

Ours — ours is a promise that says government cannot solve all our problems, but what it should do is that which we cannot do for ourselves: protect us from harm and provide every child a decent education; keep our water clean and our toys safe; invest in new schools, and new roads, and science, and technology. (p. 3)

Businesses have the responsibility to play by the rules of the road – what he left unsaid is that he believes that government has the right/responsibility to define the rules of the road. While there may be some rules that government should define, most of the rules of the road should be left to the market.

Perhaps more disturbing to me is that third paragraph which starts promisingly with the admission that “government cannot solve all our problems,” and that it should stick to doing things that we cannot do for ourselves. I’d like to know why we cannot “{keep} our toys safe, invest in new schools, and new roads, and science, and technology.” In the short term and on specific projects it may make sense for the government to make those investments, but we do ourselves a disservice if we learn to expect that government should be respoonsible for all those things that we can do for ourselves.

If Obama becomes President I will weigh what he does against these words:

And, Democrats, Democrats, we must also admit that fulfilling America’s promise will require more than just money. It will require a renewed sense of responsibility from each of us . . . each of us must do our part . . .

Yes, we must provide more ladders to success . . . But we must also admit that programs alone can’t replace parents, that government can’t turn off the television and make a child do her homework, that fathers must take more responsibility to provide love and guidance to their children.

Individual responsibility and mutual responsibility, that’s the essence of America’s promise. (p. 4 to p. 5)

Those are wonderful and true words but if his policies do not support that requirement for individual responsibility his will be a failed presidency – regardless of his popularity. (I’m confident that the mutual responsibility aspect will not be ignored under Democratic leadership.)

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Enumerated Powers Act

Posted on 2008-08-27 by David

If the United States is truly a nation that is ruled by law then the Enumerated Powers Act should be a no-brainer. When the Constitution was adopted it laid out the specific powers of the various branches of government. As the supreme law of the land and the document defining what Congress is meant to do, it should be a simple thing to require that each bill cite the section of the Constitution granting authority for the bill in question. The Constitution is short enough that our congressional representatives should be able to quickly find the applicable section. If the authority is not specified in the Constitution there is a means in place to acquire that authority if it is warranted – that is the amendment process. This limitation to the codified law was so important to our founders that they specified in the Bill of Rights that any power not specified in the Constitution was to be reserved to the states.

When Congress felt it was necessary to levy an income tax the appropriate steps were taken to amend the Constitution to allow for such a tax. That is an example of the rule of law. Unfortunately, most of our Congressional leaders do not care if they have the authority to do what they are doing – they only care if doing what they are doing will jeopardize their chance for re-election. Maybe Congress should try to repeal the Tenth Amendment.

If the Enumerated Powers Act were passed it would enable people to verify the authority of Congress on any bill they passed and it would highlight any passages of the Constitution that were being used to justify excessive or undesireable legislation. If such passages were identified, the people have the ability to clarify those specific passages of the Constitution – through the amendment process.

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