A double-edged sword. Government now is such a machine, the average American doesn't even begin to comprehend it or know how to deal with it. I believe those in office like it that way. They do their dirty deeds and we reap dirt cheap results. Medicare, low cost prescriptions, healthcare all askew because another part of our government has allowed spiraling out of control costs for these basic needs. Why isn't college education and higher education available to all? Maybe if it were, doctors and other professionals wouldn't have the huge student debt and would be required to keep costs affordable. Good doctors wouldn't be as rare as jewels and lawyers wouldn't be running the country. If drug company research is paid for with grants, which our taxes provide, why then are they allowed to price drugs and healthcare out of the reach of the average, let alone below average consumer? If American's can't take care of their elderly or infirm when they can no longer work or get hired at a livable wage, who will? Our government makes foreign import export deals which impact our spending, our surplus, and what we can and cannot grow at home. Government has it's hand in limiting all our lives. We can't use insect control that works because of government interference. The tobacco industry, out of business, government interference. (whatever is that money being spent on?). Lotteries are allowed to flourish while farmers are being told what they can and cannot plant and sell, government interference. Kids who could be working to help support families and learning a trade instead of getting into trouble can't get hired. Government interference. We people supported most of these measures due to problems and corruption, but government did not choose to respond responsibly and thoughtfully. As with the bailouts, they did a knee jerk response to get the problem of the table and move on to other matters. What would best serve the needs of the American people and their interests was never a consideration. Only the problem. So problem solved.

mr williams,
i have admired your down-to-earth logic and common sense approach to political, economic and philosophical argument for many years. as a strategic planner and a treasurer and member of the board of directors at a michigan charter school, i have found your comments to be some of the very few bright moments in an otherwise increasingly corrupt nation.
that corruption has infiltrated every level of education, finance, trade unions, big business and local, state and federal governments. further, the increasing levels of condescention and outright hateful rhetoric coming from every age group, special interests, so-called leaders and political entities in our country gives me no reason to question my cynical view of our country's future.
contrary to newt gengrich's insistence that the republican party can be reclaimed, i believe both parties, as we know them today, are hopelessly corrupt and beyond salvation. the only chance we have to save ourselves and our constitutionally limited republic from the suffocation of socialism, is for true leaders, thinkers, effective executives with selfless and patriotic motives, to come together to create a new party with a solid platform based soley on the original constitutional intent of our founders. that platform must be marketed to the public during the next four years, in such a way that will assure the downfall of the corrupted system now infecting the district of columbia.
receipt of favors, transportation, vacations, money for any purpose.....receipt of any gift, in any form whatsoever, by any government official, elected, appointed or otherwise, must be considered felony bribery and punished accordingly.
the congress has made itself unaccountable and untouchable. they do not fear the people....but detest them as pests, as mere nuisances. our members of congress are operating a criminal enterprise. such day-to-day performance, or lack thereof, would land you and me on the street, or in many instances, in jail.
in truly believe that nothing short of violence will lead to a change in their attitudes and behaviors. of course, violence of the kind that would be necessary would likely lead to an irrevocable anarchy that would preclude for generations any return to the intended constitutionally limited government of the people, by the people and for the people.
tell me it ain't so.....that we're on the verge of losing the best that has ever been, to the worst of the few of us that our forefathers so aptly feared. it can't be that there are so few of us who honestly treasure the opportunities handed down to us....or have we finally secumbed to the pathetic and empty promises of socialism as nikita krushev predicted in 1963?
without a consolidation of true and honorable leadership in the near term, i am growing increasingly pessimistic about the future of our county. a 61 year-old entrepreneur for 30 years, i'm not certain that i will be able to afford to live the rest of my life in the united states of america. i'm actually looking to mexico and costa rica as reasonable alternatives to high taxes and inflationary pressures. a u.s. dollar in those countries goes 2 to 3 times as far as here in michigan. the congress couldn't care less!
lee rogers
davisburg, mi

Your example demonstrates clearly how government interference with the economy corrupts everything in its path, including the health of every American citizen.

Thanks

Brilliant as usual.

Like Davy Crockett, Legislators should collect any money for charity amongst themselves, rather than picking our pockets.