The author of a recent Bellevue Voices article clearly confuses conservatism with anarchy. He proceeds to list a number of largely valid government responsibilities and implies that conservatives do not support them. I have never heard a conservative say we should do away with the FBI or police departments or most of the other functions he mentions, when properly run. If he paid attention to what is going on in Washington, D.C., he would see that while conservatives are trying to strengthen national defense and other valid federal functions, Democrats are busy trying to divert those funds to unconstitutional give-away programs.

Conservatives recognize that our Constitution is not a charter for government power, but a charter of the citizen’s protection against the government, and support it as written and amended. Conservatives, unlike those on the left, are keenly aware of the tenth Amendment which states: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States, respectively, or to the people.” Boy, has that been ignored! Conservatives also recognize that when government is closest to the people (i.e. local government), it will be most understanding and responsive to the needs of those citizens.

The previous author and I do agree on one thing: corruption, special interests, and lack of accountability are a serious problem; and, of course, the more government, the more corruption and special interests, and less accountability.

A few years ago, I started keeping a list of meaningful quotations from people a whole lot smarter than me. The more I collect, the more my conservative beliefs are reinforced. For example:

“My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.” –Thomas Jefferson

“Every time that we try to lift a problem from our own shoulders, and shift that problem to the hands of the government, to the same extent we are sacrificing the liberties of our people.” –John F. Kennedy

I’ll sprinkle a few more in as I go along.

I grew up in a time when almost everyone was part of a real family. Typically one spouse went outside the home to earn money, while the other took on the important job of looking out for the family, particularly taking care of the children and teaching them the value of education and hard work, to love your neighbor as yourself, and the difference between right and wrong. (There weren’t nearly as many people in prison then.) Families took care of each other, as well as their neighbors, if not individually, through churches and local organizations. My grandfather lived with us until he passed away when I was eight.

In those days, even with only one full-time job outside the home in most families, America was able to produce sufficient goods and services to satisfy the needs of our people, as well as export much to other countries, pay reasonable taxes to support local and national government functions and build our infrastructure. We were even able to provide substantial support to other countries at times through programs such as the Marshall Plan.

Since that time (FDR days), the country has been steadily moving leftward with the federal government taking over our lives far beyond the boundaries of the Constitution, with government employment skyrocketing. When the feds are not taking over as fast as those on the left demand, they consider that a movement to the right! Today, of course, we’re racing to the left faster than at any time in history.

So what has all this resulted in? Despite both partners in most “families” now working full-time, we import much, if not most, of our clothing, food, electronics, oil, lumber, etc. Our balance of trade has been negative since the 1960’s. We used to sell automobiles to other countries; now we sell our automobile companies to other countries.

(You have to give the Democrats credit for one thing: they have stimulated the economies of nations all around the world where people are willing to work for wages that don’t exceed the value of the products they produce, unlike in the U. S.)

Now the left wants to impose government-managed and rationed health care on us, based on usually-misleading data on the cost and quality of care in other countries. Given government’s record managing various monopolies like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, education, and just about everything it touches, this is truly ominous.

“If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara desert, in five years there’d be a shortage of sand.” — Milton Friedman

For at least a couple of decades, encouraged by the federal government, a huge portion of our population has lived well beyond their means; spending money they don’t have on things they don’t need and/or can’t afford, a major factor in creating the current economic crisis. Naturally the current administration intends to make everything right. How? By spending money they don’t have on things they don’t need and/or can’t afford! One of the many things the Democratic administration doesn’t understand is that “wealth has to be created before it can be shared”. For example: If we were smart enough to replace our incomprehensible income tax code with a flat tax or value-added tax, the many thousands of IRS employees could be released to work in positions that actually produce something that benefits the economy.

Of course most of the federal spending will be on things for states, cities, whatever, that the people there don’t want badly enough to pay for themselves. Why should we in Washington State have to pay for virtually-unused John Murtha Airport in Pennsylvania, or why should Pennsylvanians pay for a tunnel under Seattle or light rail to SeaTac. We now send people to Congress on the basis of how much money (that doesn’t really exist) they can suck out of D.C. to retain voters and reimburse their campaign supporters. State governments have become so dependent on federal money that many have become as poorly run as the federal government. We should consider giving California back to Mexico in retaliation for illegal immigration.

Sure, it would be nice to have better roads, bridges, etc., and more people may have jobs, but when the jobs are finished, we’ll be deeper in debt, we will have spent most of the wages earned overseas, and the economy will be worse off than it is today. By then, China may have bought this country. Since the infrastructure has been fixed, we serfs will likely have a choice of working in a “sweatshop” or on a communal farm.

Of course, the Democrats are already figuring out how to raise more taxes from those damn rich people, even though tax cuts consistently increase total tax revenue by truly stimulating the economy. The latest figures I’ve seen say that the richest 1 percent of Americans pay 37 percent of the federal taxes; the top 10 percent pay 68 percent of the taxes, while the bottom 50 percent pay 3 percent. (Of course, we all get stuck with double taxation when we purchase goods and services, due to government taxation of businesses, which businesses obviously pass on to consumers.) Democrats should wake up every morning and thank God for the rich (not me, I’m not). Otherwise the author of the Bellevue Voices article would be stuck paying for all those government services he cherishes.

“We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.” –Winston Churchill

Today over 40 percent of Americans pay no income tax at all, and more and more of them are “paying negative taxes” with all the new handout programs. A quote from George Bernard Shaw seems to be the basis for the Democrats successful election strategy: “A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.” Add the millions of government employees and the millions of economics-challenged to the non-taxpayers and the left is pretty much a shoe-in. Unfortunately:

“When the people find they can vote themselves money; that will herald the end of the republic.” –Benjamin Franklin

“The trouble with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” – Margaret Thatcher

One of the primary reasons this country was formed was to reject taxation without representation. Now we have with representation without taxation, which could have far worse consequences.

I could go on and on, but it’s depressing enough to read what I’ve already written. Unless people wake up soon, I’m not at all optimistic about the country’s future. “Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder.” –Arnold Toynbee

“The difference between a welfare state and a totalitarian state is a matter of time.” —Ayn Rand

“In the end more than they wanted freedom, they wanted security. When the Athenians finally wanted not to give to society but for society to give to them, when the freedom they wished for was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free.” —Edward Gibbon

Gary T. McGarvan lives in Bellevue.