Does the government really ruin everything?

During this health care debate, one of the constant refrains heard is, "Keep government away from health care, all they do is screw everything up." If that is the case, why not take government out of all that it does, if you really think it can do no right. What would an America without government intervention in our lives look like?

First most people would not be able to read this, since government provides a comprehensive public education that serves the vast majority of people in this nation. Not everyone can afford what the market has determined as the cost of a private education. Would people say that we should just scrap public education that we have featured as part of the American experience since colonial times.

Next, let us imagine life without police, fire, EMS and public works. All of these are government provided for the most part around the country. I don't see people storming City Hall and demanding a return to for-profit fire protection. I don't think people would say that having sewers, paved streets, and a police is such a bad thing. Would you really want to hire your own 24 hour private fire, ambulance and security force?

The government also provide for our military. Would anyone want us to dissolve our armed forces and rely on private armies to defend our nation? This is the army that secured the freedom of the world when it defeated fascism during WWII. I think I would trust my nation's security our government run army rather than say Blackwater or Wackenhut.

And don't forget about the post office. You put that stamp on your properly addressed envelope and place it in the blue box on the corner. You wait a few days. Then who would have thought, it arrives at the address you designated on the envelope. If that isn't screwed up I don't know what is.

Now government isn't the answer to everything. There are things that the government should not do. Ensuring the general welfare of its citizens is not one of them. Government is the only means we have of ensuring that the free market remains free, that competition is fair, and that those who wish to innovate can. It also can provide a narrow range of services, many would call the commons, which operate better as a monopoly and very limited overhead. Education, roads, water, sewer, emergency services are all things that benefit the community as a whole and whose costs ought to be shouldered by all citizens and business in the community. Taxes are the way we pay for all of this. People might thing the term tax and spend is bad, it is actually fiscally responsible. What should worry you is your elected representatives who wish to spend more and tax less. Common sense should dictate that that paradigm just doesn't add up.