Barack Obama’s penchant for creating strawman arguments is trickling down, way down. The argument now is that since government delivers water to our faucets, maintains roads, and regulates the electric grid, anyone who opposes a government take over of our health system hates modern life:
I AM AN AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE SHITHEEL
this morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the US department of energy. I then took a shower in the clean water provided by the municipal water utility. After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC regulated channels to see what the national weather service of the national oceanographic and atmospheric administration determined the weather was going to be like using satellites designed, built, and launched by the national aeronautics and space administration. I watched this while eating my breakfast of US department of agriculture inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined as safe by the food and drug administration….
I then log on to the internet which was developed by the defense advanced research projects administration and post on freerepublic.com and fox news forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because the government can’t do anything right.
“This is awesome” and “brilliant” and “bloody genius” they declare. No, it’s classic shorting, creating a false choice between government controlling everything or nothing. Using that logic, government should choose which shampoo you use, sneakers you wear, and car you drive (we may be there soon for the latter).
So here is America’s choice: (a) Go without water or electricity, or (b) government controls everything.
Here’s my review of this argument: “Not awesome,” “not brilliant,” “bloody stupid.”
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Comments
Liberal logic is an oxymoron.
I agree that it's a typical and completely lame argument from the progressive community. Much like "Since you're a libertarian, why don't you live in Somalia?". No one says we're hardcore anarchists, just that there's a gray area where the federal government might overstep some bounds which prevents a free society.
Also interesting that they can't envision a world in which government doesn't provide those things. Just because we've chosen, for better or worse, to allow government to handle some things, does not mean we want government in all things.
And just because government has stretched itself so far that it is unavoidable to encounter it in daily life, does not make the current government just or further expansion automatically just.
The dude who was "awoken" by his alarm clock was obviously educated by the public education system, too.
At least he gave some props to local, municipal government. We need more local governance, not less.
This argument has been around a while; before the Obama era it was used by Repbulicans and Democrats to attack libertarians…well, you drive on the highway don't you? Therefore we must have income taxes, however the government decides to set them…
Sometimes it takes an extreme to make people see the light a little bit.
Is there such a thing as Conservative Libertarian? I think that is probably the view of a lot of people worldwide.
As for local government, I think we need less of it as well. Then they cannot waste money on junk art.
An Alternate Day in a Fictitious Free Market that Liberals think will create Chaos:
This morning I was able to be woken up on time by an accurate alarm clock because the free market competition gave me hundreds of choices, most of which are accurate, inexpensive and long-lasting.
I turn on my 42 inch big screen high def TV that is AMAZINGLY inexpensive, long lasting and always works because free market competition forces crappy TV companies out of business due to consumer demand for better products.
I check to see what the weather is on one of the several free market channels providing accurate weather.
I don’t have to take ANY medications because the FDA was disbanded after too many deaths due to collusion with Big Pharma- and this created a glut of accurate and useful information about natural substances and diet. As a result, I don’t need any medications because my health is great.
I am teleported instantly to my job without the need for roads, fuel or cars because libertarians granted Congress only the power it is allowed by the Constitution. Once all of the taxpayer subsidies for the auto and oil companies were removed, they became entirely unprofitable and money was shifted away to free market ideas. The old outdated ideas of driving and using oil were shelved in favor of teleportation- which uses no fossil fuels and gets it’s energy directly from the sun.
I use gold for money to pay for my teleportation machine and because the Federal Reserve was disbanded, inflation is Zero and my taxes are at 10%. The money that I save for retirement will be there for me. Because there is no inflation, I can effectively plan for my retirement without having to take variable crazy rates of inflation in account.
I instantly teleport my mail where it needs to go without wasting fossil fuels or wondering if it got lost. I can do this because there is no govt. subsidies to outdated technology like ‘mail trucks’ and ‘postage’.
After work, I’m instantly teleported back to my children. In the ‘old days’ when cars and roads were subsidized by the govt, they used to drive an hour each way to work and never saw their children.
My house is structurally sound because the companies producing poor quality construction were sued by citizens and ran out of business. Now companies don’t DARE to build poor quality construction because of the cost of lawsuits and the terrible publicity the free market media gives to even marginal companies.
Life is good, I have low taxes and prices of goods and services from small companies are low because the govt doesn’t have tens of thousands of regulations and taxes on each and every business that starts up. Since innovation is rewarded with free market values and it’s not stifled by govt taxes to subsidize companies that the govt ‘likes’ and gets benefits from, technology rapidly comes to market and everything just gets less and less expensive and is better quality.