October 02, 2006

Doctor Recommended Reading

MONDAY MORNING MEMORANDUM
By Assemblyman Ray Haynes
October 2, 2006

Why We Need Bigger Government

There is always a good excuse for big government.

I thought I would spend some time to catalogue some of those excuses, just to put them down on the record. Whether it is on the floor of the Senate or Assembly, in budget or other committee hearings in the Legislature, these excuses pop up from time to time. In this era of term limits, it is rare for those in decision making positions to hang around long enough to hear these excuses repeated, so this article can act as a chronicle, since I have now heard many of these excuses over and over again.

Let’s start with the environment, since that seems to be one of the topics we have heard about of late. The excuse for big government can be broken down into four major categories: air, water, soil and the globe.

First, air. The excuse goes something like this: Business owners are greedy, say the proponents of big government, and care only about making a profit. Given half a chance, these greedy business owners would kill off all of their customers, their neighbors, their children, their spouses, and themselves by spewing dirt into the air on purpose just to make this profit. Only government can save the lives of all of these people, so government needs more money, more power, and more bureaucrats.

Water. Greedy business owners like dirty water, it increases their profit. So government needs more money, more power and more bureaucrats.

Dirt. Greedy business owners dump stuff on their own property because that is how they increase the value of their property. Only government can stop this greed, so it needs more money, more power, and more bureaucrats

The Globe. People drive cars, cars spew greenhouse gases. Farmers raise cattle, cattle spew greenhouse gases. Business owners liked the age of the dinosaur, and therefore, spew greenhouse gases to return to that age. Politicians talk a lot, and spew greenhouse gases, but politicians can control everyone else’s greenhouse gas emissions to make sure that the globe never again gets as warm as it did with the dinosaurs, so government needs more money, more power, and more bureaucrats.

Next, welfare. Poor people exist, and existed long before poverty programs were created. There is more poverty today than when poverty programs first started, and the more poverty programs we have, the more poverty grows. Rich people are heartless, and will never help poor people. Therefore, government must create more poverty programs, so government needs more money, more power, and more bureaucrats.

Next, government education, child care, and children’s programs. Parents don’t love their children, and want to be sure that every child they raise grows up ignorant and starving, so government must have school breakfast and lunch programs. Childhood obesity is a growing problem, especially among children on government run school breakfast and lunch programs. Ignorance is a growing problem, especially at government run schools, so government needs more money, more power and more bureaucrats.

Next, government health care. People don’t know who is a good doctor, doctors don’t care about their patients, and greedy business owners only want sick employees. Only a government run health care program can deliver quality health care on a timely and inexpensive basis, therefore, government needs more money, more power and more bureaucrats.

In California, in the last 14 years, government has grown 250%. It has continually demanded more money, more power, and more bureaucrats, yet the problems it was supposed to solve with the money, power, and bureaucrats have gotten worse, so it demands more money, more power, and more bureaucrats. It will never end until the whole thing collapses, which may not be far away. We can only hope.

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