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Originally Posted by aceventura3
Did I say "greedy"? I think people put themselves first, a bit different than greed. Although there are some greedy people, I would not say that is the nature of man. People will meet their own needs before thinking about the needs of others. If by nature the people of the US were not as I describe, we would not so disproportionately consume the total production in the world.
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No you're right. You said-
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The basis of my view is that people are selfish, in that they lookout for their interests ahead of the interests of others or the community. Not to suggest that people are not charitable and don't care about others, but in the final analysis - I think we are a "me" first species. There are some species where this is not true, but not man - and I agree there are exceptions.
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I saw selfish and read greedy. My bad.
The fact we, the US, consumes so much of the worlds total production is a problem. Especially when it comes to oil. We're committing suicide by doing so and it's time for a dramatic change. Maybe that's what we've become- a me, me, me society but it's not our history. I think it's time to get back to working together.
---------- Post added at 07:08 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:45 AM ----------
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Originally Posted by dogzilla
I don't see anywhere that prohibits the government from doing this.
I'm going to agree with The_Dundean on this, that the 10th amendment prohibits it. The Constitution does grant the federal government the right to impose taxes, but does not grant the government the right to force people to pay arbitrary fees. Obama has gone to great lengths to claim his mandatory health care payments are not a tax, so Obama loses.
If I remember right, this is the basis for several law suits that the Supreme Court will get to choose from when deciding this.
So now it's your turn. Exactly where does the Constitution prohibit repealing or canceling an entitlement program?
---------- Post added at 04:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:24 PM ----------
If the government can't figure out how to make it work without the taxpayer paying for it, then forget it. I'm not responsible for other's health care and they are not responsible for mine.
The Constitution specifically directs Congress to maintain an army and a navy. Police, fire dept, schools, etc, I think that's up to the states. I don't see anything in the Constitution that says the federal government must provide them, and the federal government generally doesn't run them.
Roads, and other facilities may as well be private systems. We already at least partly pay for them on a user fee basis with toll roads and gas taxes. Maybe they will be run more efficiently.
Here in NY, one major toll road is the New York State Thruway. God forbid that there's even a bump in the pavement because the next day there will be a squadron of state highway construction trucks out fixing it. There might be six inches of snow on every other road in the state, but there won't be a snowflake to be seen on the Thruway because there's a squadron of snowplows continually circling their assigned region plowing and salting the road to death.
I think the last time the NY Thruway was closed was in 1969, thanks to the Woodstock concert. :-)
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Well lets follow the constitution then and get rid of the Air Force. There's no mention of it so it must not be allowed either. Hell the money saved on jet fuel alone will help greatly in balancing the budget.
and...
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If the government can't figure out how to make it work without the taxpayer paying for it, then forget it.
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How can the government do anything without tax payer funds? I mean I know the conservative answer of late is borrow and spend but anyone with a visa card should be able to see that not going to work long term.