Smaller Government. Lower Taxes. More Freedom.
This piece was written by one of our members, Greg Morin, originally published on his blog, Porcupine Musings.
Many thanks to Greg for his efforts, and I’d like to point out that I couldn’t have said it better myself about this part of the argument against the upcoming T-SPLOST vote on Tuesday.
The TSPLOST frenzy has moved into high gear as we approach the July 31 election. The “pro” side makes some compelling arguments. Compelling that is until you actually think about them. [Read more...]
This piece was originally posted by LP Georgia member Greg Morin at his blog, Porcupine Musings.
Monopolies are bad. The supposed truth of that axiom is nearly universally accepted. Government demonstrates its adherence to this precept through such devices as anti-trust legislation. Curiously though, government itself is the biggest monopolist like entity. I say “monopolist like” because even the so-called monopolies of Standard Oil or AT&T could not force people to purchase their goods via legally imposed violent coercion. Government is monopoly at the barrel of a gun. So, if the truism that monopolies are bad is generally accepted, why is the public so willing to blithely accept the monopolist enterprises the government imposes on us? For some reason the public holds those in government to be members of a class of altruistic super humans that think only upon the betterment of society and never upon themselves, that they are selfless servants of their fellow man (angels?). To quote John Stossel, “Give me a break!” Those in government are humans, just like us, with the same weaknesses, foibles and strengths (witness the recent GSA convention debacle). They are not magically transformed upon taking an oath of office or employment within the government. To persist in such a belief is as delusional as believing in the Tooth Fairy or Santa Claus.
This guest post by member Greg Morin was originally published in the Morgan County Citizen on Friday, March 23rd.
Tax discussions invariably devolve to a point where one side finds it necessary to resort to the “roads card.” The assumption with this rejoinder is that roads are a major and necessary function of government. Setting aside the “necessary” aspect for now, let’s address the “major” assumption. At first glance it would seem something as ubiquitous as roads must carry a heavy cost burden: they are everywhere, after all. But first glances are seldom correct. Let’s look at the numbers. In the state of Georgia, the FY2012 budget allocates a mere 0.03 percent of the budget to transportation. The proposed Federal FY2012 budget allocates only 2.8 percent to transportation. How can this major function of government be such a minor expense? The U.S. contains approximately 4 million total miles of all road types. We could repave all of it EVERY YEAR and it would only cost roughly $400 billion (1/10th of the budget).
This was originally published on October 13, 2011 in the Morgan County Citizen.
By: Greg Morin
The idea of “illegal” immigration is a silly notion. It’s akin to an “illegal” vacation. Immigration is simply the act of moving from Location A to Location B. Why should permission be required to exercise this right? Up until 1882 (with passage of the non-euphemistically named “Chinese Exclusion Act”) anyone was permitted entry. Immigration laws were tightened further until 1921 when the Temporary Quota Act set “national quotas” and permanently criminalized immigration. And thus a legal harmless act was made “illegal” by arbitrary government fiat.
The right to immigrate (or emigrate) is distinct from the priviledge of citizenship. The basic idea is “you’re welcome to come and work and live here and support yourself but don’t expect handouts from the government… if you want a handout then you must become a citizen.” If immigration were properly viewed in this manner it would solve the issue of an overburdened social safety system. If only citizens can utilize the social institutions then you remove all incentives for those with parasitic intentions from immigrating. We would, however, have to change the antiquated citizenship laws that confer citizenship to those born on U.S. soil. Citizenship should be a privilege reserved for those who meet the established criteria or the children of a U.S. citizen.
The most common justification for restricting immigration is that they ‘steal’ jobs from Americans. [Read more...]
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