/
*Instead of posting the front-page article from today's Business Day
called "'Too much power for state' in Patel's plan
<http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=128529>", here,
below, is William Blum's article, from the USA, yesterday, with a
different slant on the "state power" question.
VC
***/
**
*The Anti-Empire Report*
December 2nd, 2010 [part]
by *William Blum*
*www.killinghope.org <http://www.killinghope.org/>*
*Some questions to ask our quaint little Teaparty friends*
The Teaparty folks never tire of calling for "smaller government". How
sweet. Most other Republicans repeat the same mantra /ad nauseam/ as
well, as do many liberals (not to be confused with progressives).
So for all these individuals I have some questions:
* When there's a plane crash the government sends investigators to
the crash site to try to determine the cause of the accident; this
is information that can be used to make air travel safer. But it's
really BIG GOVERNMENT, forcing the airlines to fully cooperate,
provide all relevant information, secrecy is not permitted, and
make changes or face severe penalties. Do you think the government
should stop doing this?
* Following this year's BP oil spill do you think the government was
right to bully and threaten the company for an explanation and
solution for the catastrophe, or should it have been "hands off"
for the sake of small government?
* Following a major earthquake there's usually a cry from many
quarters: Stores should not be raising prices for basic
necessities like water, generators, batteries, tree-removal
services, diapers, etc. More grievances soon arise because
landlords raise rents on vacant apartments after many dwellings in
the city have been rendered uninhabitable. How dare they do that?
people wail. Following the 1994 earthquake in Los Angeles the
California Assembly proceeded to make it a crime for merchants to
increase prices for vital goods and services by more than ten
percent after a natural disaster.^11
<http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer88.html#note-11> Following the
destruction caused by Hurricane Isabel in September 2003, the
governor and attorney general of Virginia called on the
legislature to pass the state's first anti-price-gouging law after
receiving about 100 complaints from residents. North Carolina had
enacted an anti-gouging law just shortly before.^12
<http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer88.html#note-12> Does such
blatant big-government interference in our God-given
Supply-and-Demand system bother you? Do you think that our
legislators should simply allow "the magic of the marketplace" to
do its magic?
* Do you think that the government should continue waging war
against what they call "terrorists" abroad, since there's no
bigger or more expensive big-government action than this?
* Do you think the government should continue with its electronic
strip searches and body feel-ups at airports or should we allow
the risk of bombs being brought on board airplanes? (Or --- as an
alternative to either --- do you think the government should cease
its bombing, invading, occupying, overthrowing, killing and
torturing around the world so as to put an end to its creating
anti-American terrorists?)
* If your bank fails --- and hundreds have done so in recent years
--- are you willing to accept the loss of your life's savings? Or
are you thankful that big, big government steps in, takes over the
bank, and protects every penny of your savings?
* Do you think that big government --- federal, state or local ---
should stop haranguing the citizenry about the environment:
recycling, air pollution, water pollution, soil runoff, etc.,
etc., or that people should simply be allowed to do what is most
convenient for them, their families, and their businesses?
* Do you think that manufacturers should have the right to run their
factories à la a sweatshop in a Bangkok alley 50 years ago or that
big government should throw its weight around to assure modern
working conditions, with worker health and safety standards?
* When a prescription drug starts to kill or harm more and more
people, who should decide when to pull it off the market: Big
Government or the drug's manufacturer?
* Are you glad that food packages list the details of ingredients
and nutrition? Who do you think is responsible for that?
* A huge number of Americans would be facing serious hunger if not
for their food stamps; more than 40 million receive them. Where do
you think food stamps come from? No, not from Sarah Palin.
* And where, pray tell, do you think unemployment insurance, housing
subsidies, and Medicare come from? (There were of course, lord
help us, the Teaparty signs: "Keep your government hands off my
Medicare,"^13 <http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer88.html#note-13>
while simultaneously ridiculing Obama's push for "socialized
medicine".) Some of you would probably rather see widespread
hunger, poverty, homelessness, and illness in America than have
people dependent upon the BigGovernmentMonster.
* Do you think that big government is no match for the private
sector in efficiently getting large and important projects done?
Big government in the United States has created great dams,
marvelous national parks, an interstate highway system, the peace
corps, social security, the National Institutes of Health, and the
Smithsonian Institution; it's also landed men on the moon, wiped
out polio, and built up an incredible military machine (ignoring
for the moment what it's used for), and much more.
* Do you know that twice in recent years the federal government
undertook major studies of many thousands of federal jobs to
determine whether they could be done more efficiently by private
contractors? On one occasion the federal employees won more than
80% of the time; on the other occasion 91%. Both studies took
place under the Bush administration, which was hoping for
different results. ^14
<http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer88.html#note-14>
We have to remind the American people of what they once knew but seem to
have forgotten: that they don't want BIG government, or SMALL
government; they don't want MORE government, or LESS government; they
want government ON THEIR SIDE.
I think the Teapartyers are motivated primarily by two factors: 1) they
don't have the intellectual competence or ideological independence to
place the blame for the sick economy where it belongs: the recklessness
and greed of Wall Street, the banks, and other financial corporations;
and so they blame the president and his "socialist" policies; 2) the
president is black.
Mark Brzezinski, son of Zbigniew, was a post-Cold War Fulbright Scholar
in Poland: "I asked my students to define democracy. Expecting a
discussion on individual liberties and authentically elected
institutions, I was surprised to hear my students respond that to them,
democracy means a government obligation to maintain a certain standard
of living and to provide health care, education and housing for all. In
other words, socialism." ^15
<http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer88.html#note-15>
**
*Notes*
1. /Los Angeles Times/, January 2, 1995 ^?
<http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer88.html#link-11>
2. /Washington Post/, September 24, 2003 ^?
<http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer88.html#link-12>
3. /New York Times/, November 3, 2010 ^?
<http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer88.html#link-13>
4. /Washington Post/, June 8, 2005 and March 23, 2006 ^?
<http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer88.html#link-14>
5. /Los Angeles Times/, September 2, 1994 ^?
<http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer88.html#link-15>
*William Blum* is the author of:
* /Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War 2/
* /Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower/
* /West-Bloc Dissident: A Cold War Memoir/
* /Freeing the World to Death: Essays on the American Empire/
Portions of the books can be read, and signed copies purchased, at
*www.killinghope.org <http://www.killinghope.org/>*
Previous Anti-Empire Reports can be read at this website.
To add yourself to this mailing list simply send an email to *bblum6
[at] aol.com <mailto:[email protected]?subject=add>* with "add" in the
subject line. I'd like your name and city in the message, but that's
optional. I ask for your city only in case I'll be speaking in your
area. (Or put "remove" in the subject line to do the opposite.)
Any part of this report may be disseminated without permission. I'd
appreciate it if the website were mentioned.
*Home <http://killinghope.org/>*
--
You are subscribed. This footer can help you.
Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this
message.
You can visit the group WEB SITE at
http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options,
pages, files and membership.
To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't
have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in
the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat):
[email protected] .
