patrick.net

Govt exists for the public good. Unfortunately govt does extract money from the public to feed itself also.
You'd have to spreadsheet all the public good achieved, versus all the money extracted to feed the beast to get a handle on whether the system, as is, is palatable.
Then you'd have to duplicate this feat with the leading countries of the world to see if there is a better system out there, or if ours needs to be tweeked/modified...

Good luck with that project.
lostand confused says

When govt exists for the public good-then it is good. When govt exists to extract money from the public to feed itself-then they are no different from thugs.

When cops that break laws are arrested nd thrown in jail as readily as ordinary Americans are-then we will talk. You don't need extra bureaucracy for that-just enforcement of existing law against the enforcers. respect is earned not enforced. As long as cops do their jobs to stop criminals, then the majority will respect them, if they don't and cross over into harassing citizens to feed the beast-as they are now in America-then people will look at them as the thugs they are.

There is a fine line. Till the 1920s we didn't even have an income tax, except for a short period in the 1800s to repay debts from the civil war. If we go back to that, we won't be in these endless wars against drugs or whatever across the globe and be so hungry as to tax the incomes of non resident Americans and threaten foreign banks-the only developed nation to do so. America has become a caricature of itself-the funny thing is that on these issues repubs are even more pro big gubmnt then the dems.

I don't think the judge liked that he was hawking the snuff video on the courthouse steps in between hearings.