There is an absence of leadership saying this:

[merbex]

Government is NOT a business and it was never designed to be one; if a comparison needs to be made to help people understand for today's 21st century mindset, a leader could say that Government is actually more like a non profit organization because the money it takes in goes out to fulfill a purpose( whatever the goal of the non profit is) but even that explanation is sort of glib IMHO.

Government is CITIZENS, not shareholders, coming together to accomplish that which they deem important, together, for their security, well being, and general happiness of the whole community.

I live in a town that has Open Town Meeting form of government. My sibling lives a couple of towns away that also has Open Town Meeting form of government.

Yes, we live in New England.

My town has sidewalks and street lights on every street ~we have a Municipal light company( owned by the Town established back in the day when electricity was 'new'. It was something the Town's citizens of yesteryear invested in TOGETHER and we citizens of today reap the benefit of that.

My sibling's town has no sidewalks or street lights and a big Energy Company provides electricity to that Town.

If my sibling and their fellow citizens in that community wanted side walks they have to put a Warrant Article together and present it for consideration to an Advisory Board made up of CITIZENS of that community who are what I call the super activists who provide oversight over all the Town's elected Boards and finances who would examine the benefits/costs/detriments to the Town and who would make a recommendation pro or con to the all those other CITIZENS who would choose to participate during Open Town Meeting.

Arguments would be made: most would be about cost, some would be about the 'look of the project', possibly eminent domain, but what all would recognize is that IF the Article for side walks passed - taxes would go up to pay for them.

People would have come together as CITIZENS and decided something was of value to their community and it was recognized that has a cost attached to it. In effect they vote for have their taxes increase and to ever more change the character and look of their community.

If you have read this far( thank you) what I am trying to say is that I see NO ONE at the federal level making the case for projects that help the community.

Eisenhower got the Federal High way system enacted.

Kennedy started us to the moon.

LBJ promoted the tenets of his Great Society.

The Federal Government is Open Town Meeting writ large But NO ONE today at the Federal Level is making the case for initiatives; it's as if all those in attendance at Open town Meeting are actively dismantling government and saying NO or it can't be done, I don't want to be a citizen any more = F**K IT - PRIVATIZE EVERYTHING - we will give our tax money to corporations and turn over the ability to govern ourselves to CEO's and Boards of Directors.

Any jackass can kick down a barn door, it takes thought effort and care to build a barn.

Or maintain one.

I don't see anyone today taking care of the barn - that saddens me tremendously.

[appal_jack]

1. k&r

I agree 100%: this sort of leadership is sorely lacking!

-app

[Angry Dragon]

2. +1000

[Mnemosyne]

3. Hear, hear! Well said, merbex. Thank you. K&R n/t

[StarsInHerHair]

4. repairing our infrastructure & designing separate non-corp controlled

sensors that monitor our air, water, & radiation levels, as well as what's in our soils. This would create new jobs. creating a new concrete, like Roman Concrete-NOT from oil & MUCH longer lasting too, no more "short product life-cycle"

[KoKo]

5. An interesting post...and points to some of what's wrong with Obama's Policy..

K&R... He promised something different...in governing. It's what many of us thought, anyway. Maybe we heard his speeches wrong...but many of us listened are read all of them.

[Beartracks]

6. Nice and succinct.

"Government is CITIZENS, not shareholders, coming together to accomplish that which they deem important, together, for their security, well being, and general happiness of the whole community."

:applause:

-----------------

[mikeburetta]

7. privatization?

There may be some instances where it works but mostly over time we've found privatizing whats done in the public sector ends up costing more. Remember the grand old days of yesteryear of grunts in the army on "kp" duty pealing potatoes? Now the pentagon is outsourcing caterers to do what was done internally before and costing us dearly...embasies abroad are being policed not with marines but private security comps and being paid far more than our service personal are payed. all this under the guise it saves money fact is it doesn't!
Now we get to infrastructure and want to outsource that too. The question is who is relay being conservative with our money? We get more bang for buck when we do it internally!

[upi402]

8. we are free to withold consent to be governed

and it's looking like we may need to do that

[on point]

9. I wish I could recommend more than once!

[avaistheone1]

10. k&r

[Glaisne]

11. Very well said

I am sick and tired of these right wing nut job govs saying they want to run their states like a business. Yeah! They want to run it like Enron! You look at some of these CEO Governors like Rick Scott (a fascist mother fraker) and the business he ran committed the greatest medicare fraud in history! He got rich through fraud by ripping off both the business he ran and their customers. Now he wants to run Florida like a business! Government is not a business! Government and business are two separate things with separate mandates and purposes. Go try to explain that to a right tard and you might as well be talking to a wall. At least the wall is more interesting.