Government doing too much?

[The_Professor]

Poll: Majority believes government doing too much


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A quarter century after the Reagan revolution and a dozen years after Republicans vaulted into control of Congress, a new CNN poll finds most Americans still agree with the bedrock conservative premise that, as the Gipper put it, "government is not the answer to our problems -- government is the problem."

The poll released Friday also showed that an overwhelming majority of Americans perceive, correctly, that the size and cost of government have gone up in the past four years, when Republicans have had a grip on the House of Representatives, the Senate and the White House.

Discretionary spending grew from $649 billion in fiscal year 2001 to $968 billion in fiscal year 2005, an increase of $319 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Queried about their views on the role of government, 54 percent of the 1,013 adults polled said they thought it was trying to do too many things that should be left to individuals and businesses. Only 37 percent said they thought the government should do more to solve the country's problems.

Americans had a slightly different perspective when it came to the specific issue of promoting traditional values. A slight majority -- 51 percent -- said they thought that was an appropriate activity for government, while 43 percent said it should not favor any particular set of values.

The sampling error for the questions in the poll, conducted for CNN by Opinion Research Corporation, was plus or minus 3 percentage points.

When asked if the size of the federal government has increased in the past four years, 72 percent said it had, and 86 percent said they thought federal spending had gone up during the same period. Those questions have a sampling error of plus or minus 4.5 percent.

In recent months, a growing number of conservatives have been complaining out loud about increases in the scope and cost of government, despite the GOP's grip on all the levers of power. (Read Jeff Greenfield's analysis of where the right went wrong)

"I believe that as a movement, we have veered off course into the dangerous and uncharted waters of big government Republicanism," said Rep. Mike Pence, R-Indiana, chairman of the House Republican Study Committee, a 110-member caucus that supports limited government and lower taxes.

"Conservatives came to office to reduce the size of government and enlarge the sphere of free and private initiative," said Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona. "But lately, we have increased government in order to stay in office."

Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/10/27/poll.government/index.html 

[Plane]

He wants to eliminate the state income tax, open up the state's schools with a voucher program and curtail the ability of government to seize private property through eminent domain.

"I believe that most every time someone strives to use government to solve a problem they make it worse," he said.

Perdue and Taylor are both "advocates of government as a solution," Hayes said.



http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/politics/15875937.htm

[The_Professor]

Let's all advocate minimalist government!

Let's give 'em less money to waste, I say! 

[sirs]

That would be a resounding YES

 

[Plane]

Let's all advocate minimalist government!

Let's give 'em less money to waste, I say! 

So you are endorseing tax cuts after all?

[The_Professor]

Nice try, Plane!

Nope. A Federal Government that does minimal services. Others left to the States.

I still do not believe in tax cuts. Sorry.

[Xavier_Onassis]

This is a bogus topic when worded this way.

Most people are overjoyed when the government intervenes to solve THEIR problem. It's just that they are unconcerned with SOMEONE ELSE'S problem.

People without healthcare would like the government to help them get decent healthcare.

People with young childern are all for public daycare for toddlers.

Old folks are all for programs for old folks.

and so on and so on and so on.

The government grew a bit under Reagan, a bit more under Olebush and has exploded under Juniorbush.

The difference is the Republicans will monger a ghastly, unwinneable war and throw money at it for years, and the Democrats will tend to piss it all away on education, fuel to keep the poor and elderly warm in the winter, and food stamps.

There is no chance that a vote for a Republican will result in anything useful happening. There is a slight chance that a vote for a Democrat might.

[Xavier_Onassis]

I still do not believe in tax cuts. Sorry.

=================================
Does not believing in tax cuts mean that you are a believer in taxes?

Some taxes are worse than others. There is no such thing as a good tax. Taxes are simply necessary to the operation of any worthwile government.

[Plane]

I still do not believe in tax cuts. Sorry.

=================================
Does not believing in tax cuts mean that you are a believer in taxes?

Some taxes are worse than others. There is no such thing as a good tax. Taxes are simply necessary to the operation of any worthwile government.

You make a good point .

So can we say then that there are well used and poorly used taxes?

Other than that I would point out that one use of Taxes is to discourage something or even to destroy it and one use of tax breaks is to encourage something or establish it.

The power of taxation can be used selectively to empower the legislative branch of government to my mind it empowers government more than the framers of the constitution intended.

[The_Professor]

It is certainly necessary to collect monies (or taxes or whatever you wish to call it) to operate the government. This is accepted practice. The issue here centers around the concept that tax cuts are or are not beneficial to government revenues. I simply do not believe that if you reduce taxes, then governrment finances will improve without spending reductions. Look, you need X amount to run a government, regardless of the level. You simply must take in that much money. You can argue about issues about what credits and deductions to allow/disallow, but the fact remains that you STILL need X amount to run the government.