[MD] I was talking to this lady

[david buchanan]

SA, Platt and all conservative types:

SA told a heart-breaking story:
...She is not allowed to sell the coffee using the well water, she must use 
the township water supply.  She asked if she bought bottled water and used 
that for the coffee would that be ok.  The township said "no"....

Platt replied:
This is an excellent example of why I'm a conservative. Regulations have 
strangled the economies of socialist countries. Now they are beginning to 
strangle us. As Reagan said, "Government is not the solution to our problem, 
government is the problem."

dmb says:
Government is the problem? Then let's just get rid of it, eh? How about if 
we just get rid of all the laws and courts and cops and armies and instead 
just have a free-for-all. That oughta be fun, especially for those who own 
lots of guns and ammo. But seriously, think about what you're saying here, 
for god's sake. Its bat-shit crazy dude. Thomas Jefferson said "that 
government is best which governs least" (Said it nearly two hundred years 
before Reagan did.) But in the declaration of independence Jefferson also 
said that "governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers 
from the consent of the governed" and that such governments are instituted 
"in order to secure these rights".

My point? The idea that government is the problem only makes sense if you do 
not care whether or not your rights are secure. It only makes sense if you 
care more about "the economy" than actual people or their rights. As I see 
it, this sort of "conservatism" is thoroughly unAmerican. It expresses a 
certain contempt for rights and democracy. It mocks our founding principles. 
Its creepy, man.

And don't you guys know that most ground water in the USA is full of bugs? I 
mean, did you ever stop to think that the city offical was bound by laws 
that are only aimed at preventing the spread of disease? I don't know the 
details of that particular case, of course. But do you really think that 
health and safety regulations are some kind of tyranny? I don't. In fact, I 
think the notion is laughable. Maybe sometime you should look into the nasty 
snake oil and phony poison that used to be on the market in this country 
proir to health and safety laws. People wasted lots of hard-earned cash, got 
addicted to powerful drugs and some people just died from it.

Don't believe it, gents. Its a big lie. The push to deregulate the market 
has everthing to do with private profits and nothing to do with the rights 
of citizens. The push to deregulate the market will only put more pollution 
in the world and all sorts of things against the public interest. How do you 
think that ground water got polluted in the first place?

Governments are instituted to secure our rights. I'd hardly call that a 
problem. Tyranny is the problem precisely because it destroys those rights 
and is unjust precisely because it does not have the consent of the 
governed.

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