The shutdown’s real lesson:

[drbrumley]

Government has taken hostage too much of the economy.

Privatize TSA and air-traffic control, restructure the national parks as nonprofits.

We are in the third week of the federal government’s partial shutdown. The shutdown is affecting the lives of many federal workers and may soon start disrupting the broader economy. Because the government exerts control over major industries, when the politicians butt heads, it damages activities such as aviation, tourism and recreation.

 

[genuineoriginal]

Why do we need so many non-essential government employees?

Federal Government Shutdown Reveals That Many Government Workers are Non-Essential Pundits talk as if government is the most important part of America, but it isn’t. We need some government, limited government. But most of life, the best of life, goes on without government, many of the best parts in spite of government. Of course, the shutdown is a big deal to the 800,000 people who aren’t being paid. But they will get paid. Government workers always do — after shutdowns. Columnist Paul Krugman calls this shutdown, “Trump’s big libertarian experiment.” But it’s not libertarian. Government’s excessive rules are still in effect, and eventually government workers will be paid for not working. That makes this a most un-libertarian experiment. But there are lessons to be learned. During a shutdown when Barack Obama was president, government officials were so eager to make a point by inconveniencing people that they even stopped visitors from entering public parks. Trump’s administration isn’t doing that, so PBS found a new crisis: “Trash cans spilling… (P)ark services can’t clean up the mess until Congress and the president reach a spending deal,” reported “NewsHour.” But volunteers appeared to pick up some of the trash. Given a chance, private citizens often step in to do things government says only government can do. The Washington Post ran a front-page headline about farmers “reeling… because they aren’t receiving government support checks.” But why do farmers even get “support checks”? One justification is “saving family farms.” But the money goes to big farms. Government doesn’t need to “guarantee the food supply,” another justification for subsidies. Most fruit and vegetable farmers get no subsidies, yet there are no shortages of peaches, plums, green beans, etc. Subsidies are a scam created by politicians who get money from wheat, cotton, corn and soybean agribusinesses. Those farmers should suck it up and live without subsidies, too. During shutdowns, government tells “nonessential workers” not to come to work. But if they’re nonessential, then why do we pay 400,000 of them? Why do we still pay 100,000 American soldiers in Germany, Japan, Italy and England? Didn’t we win those wars? We could take a chainsaw to so much of government.

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[ok doser]

Why do we still pay 100,000 American soldiers in Germany, Japan, Italy and England? Didn’t we win those wars?

​

no, we didn't


they're the same wars we've been fighting for centuries and will continue fighting (or enforcing the peace with projected strength) for the foreseeable future