Reply #81: Thanks for the considered explanation for your current discomfort with the GOP. [View All]

[flamin lib]

I'll try to respond item by item with my own take on things.

1. The preamble says the responsibility of government is to "establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity". The part about the general welfare is often lost on libertarians. If universal single payer health care promotes the general welfare it is something the Government should do. The only argument should be what constitutes the 'general welfare'.

2. "Helping" other nations should not mean armed intervention or covert overthrow of their governments. Hammas was successful because they build hospitals and infrastructure. The Taliban is resurgent because they fix streets and infrastructure in Afghanistan. The average Afghan makes $2 a day. The US could literally buy the hearts and minds for a fraction of what we spend on bombs and bullets.

3. Taxes have two purposes: to raise revenue and to modify behavior. Corporate taxes, when passed on to the consumer, are similar to a use tax. Tax ammunition and only the people who shoot will pay the tax. You pay taxes on your favorite stuff and I pay taxes on mine. Tax profits earned offshore and it becomes more attractive to produce profits here.

4. 2nd amendment--there's a whole forum just for that so I'll not get into it here. Suffice it to say the federal government is the least of your problems. The most egregious regulations are at the city and state level.

5. The only reductions in government size have occurred under Democratic administrations, both here in Texas and in Washington. Anne Richards combined agencies and eliminated redundancies. It only took Bush two years to put it all back. Bill Clinton made the fed smaller. Look what Reagan and Bush have done.

6. See 3 above.

7. As it is the DoE is underfunded and can't do much right. Leave education up to 50 states and get 50 standards. Kansas gets to teach religion and Texas gets to not teach at all. Yeah, that's a real solution to the education crisis.

As for why you're leaving the GOP, what the hell took ya' so long! ;-)

Welcome to the party of sanity.