I post on several boards, some local, some national, but this board is unique in the way that it often uses the term "THE GOVERNMENT". It's as if there is an office somewhere in the country that is named "THE GOVERNMENT". All bad things originate there and nothing good ever comes from it.
For many on this board, "THE GOVERNMENT" is the enemy. Not so much Obama, or Bush, Clinton, Reagan, Carter etc... But "THE GOVERNMENT"! Not the Congress, the Senate or even the Supreme Court... but "THE GOVERNMENT"! Separate from administrations, Congress and Court... and often referred to as superior to them.
Posts like, "THE GOVERNMENT" said this... or "THE GOVERNMENT" took away our rights... or even "THE GOVERNMENT" is out to get us... appears to show a real paranoia about a entity that doesn't exist.
If the problem is with the mayor or a city councilman passing a local restriction... "THE GOVERNMENT" did it. Not the mayor. If the price of gas is going up another $.50 a gallon, it's the fault of "THE GOVERNMENT". When some Americans gets arrested unjustly it wasn't the Justice dept. or the FBI, or the State Police that is behind the arrest... it's the fault of "THE GOVERNMENT"!
I know that some posters on this board DO lump all agencies, whether local, state or federal, into one box and call them collectively "THE GOVERNMENT", but when it comes to discussing the particular issue, there is no separating them... again, as if they are all one thing.
Our Government is a general collection of all our governing bodies collectively but they never function as one being and usually are at odds with each other on many issues.
Unless a post is about ALL GOVERNMENT in our country... the term "THE GOVERNMENT" almost never applies.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
ALL Government in this Country, whether Federal, State, or local have commonalities:
Law enforcement Taxation Regulation
When people use the word government, they are generalizing, just like people generalize talking about the "rich.
So to use your logic, when people say the "rich" don't pay their fair share of taxes, they don't specify who., They are railing against an entity that doesn't exist.
In a good portion of your original post, I could replace the word "government" with "the rich" and it would still make sense.
"Arguing with liberals is like playing chess with a pigeon; no matter how good I am at chess, the pigeon is just going to knock out the pieces, crap on the board, and strut around like it is victorious." - Author Unknown
'the government' tries very had to have separate entities...and for all practical purpose of conversation they are....
however it's the legislation/regulations that are the cohesiveness across all the agencies giving power....
yes we elect representatives who then legislate on our behalf(we hope), the legislation then has life, then there are 'teeth' that get put into said legislation....
so yes,,,it is 'the government' as a body....
a zygote is not a human being a government agency is not the government
you are a compartmentalist .......
but in the end the ripple from the center of the pond comes to rest on the shoreline causing erosion
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
I understand the generalization of "The Government", in the overall context of our ruling bodies. I'm posting about a more individual way of using the term.
The Government gave me a parking ticket this morning... (not a cop) The Government raised my school taxes... (not the school board vote) The Government is taking my money... (if congress passes a tax increase)
and "THE GOVERNMENT is considered one entity in all three of the above. The cop, the school board vote and the US congress, totally different unrelated groups, but condemned as if they were one.
We all generalize, but this board seems to find "THE GOVERNMENT" to be one all encompassing being.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
I understand the generalization of "The Government", in the overall context of our ruling bodies. I'm posting about a more individual way of using the term.
The Government gave me a parking ticket this morning... (not a cop) The Government raised my school taxes... (not the school board vote) The Government is taking my money... (if congress passes a tax increase)
and "THE GOVERNMENT is considered one entity in all three of the above. The cop, the school board vote and the US congress, totally different unrelated groups, but condemned as if they were one.
We all generalize, but this board seems to find "THE GOVERNMENT" to be one all encompassing being.
Very true, but it's used the same way in my example:
The rich didn't "earn" their money - (some didn't, they inherited it, but most did) The rich pay less taxes than I do - (if most of their income is dividend income, thats true, but not wage Income)
What's different about the "rich" example is sometimes is used and purposely EXCLUDES some people that should be part of the generalization. For example, when people rail about the rich getting tax breaks, they seem to forget their favorite hollywood movie and TV stars, and their favorite athletes are getting them too. They ignore it and use the typical wall street banker caricatures instead
"Arguing with liberals is like playing chess with a pigeon; no matter how good I am at chess, the pigeon is just going to knock out the pieces, crap on the board, and strut around like it is victorious." - Author Unknown
I understand the generalization of "The Government", in the overall context of our ruling bodies. I'm posting about a more individual way of using the term.
The Government gave me a parking ticket this morning... (not a cop) The Government raised my school taxes... (not the school board vote) The Government is taking my money... (if congress passes a tax increase)
and "THE GOVERNMENT is considered one entity in all three of the above. The cop, the school board vote and the US congress, totally different unrelated groups, but condemned as if they were one.
We all generalize, but this board seems to find "THE GOVERNMENT" to be one all encompassing being.
"The Government" is 2 of the 3 examples above. They are examples of governing bodies making arbitrary rules. So "The Government" IS an all encompassing being, regardless of what level it is used.
When people say an "army" invades, it is not specified by branch of the military or specific division within the "army". The army or the military is a concept.
The Cop is part of the executive branch of government, paid by the government that selectively enforces the arbitrary rules passed by legislators. More laws means more law breakers, means a need for more cops, more cops means more political influence, more political influence means more money.
The school board has very little influence on public schools and your taxes, the Taylor Law rules the public schools, school boards are not governments, the State and Department of Education bureaucracy is the government. The school board is more of a figure head, to make the people FORCED to pay school taxes feel as if they actually have any sort of say.
"The Government" is 2 of the 3 examples above. They are examples of governing bodies making arbitrary rules. So "The Government" IS an all encompassing being, regardless of what level it is used.
When people say an "army" invades, it is not specified by branch of the military or specific division within the "army". The army or the military is a concept.
The Cop is part of the executive branch of government, paid by the government that selectively enforces the arbitrary rules passed by legislators. More laws means more law breakers, means a need for more cops, more cops means more political influence, more political influence means more money.
The school board has very little influence on public schools and your taxes, the Taylor Law rules the public schools, school boards are not governments, the State and Department of Education bureaucracy is the government. The school board is more of a figure head, to make the people FORCED to pay school taxes feel as if they actually have any sort of say.
The ARMY INVADES meaning the MILITARY, not only the army is a misuse of terms. But to say I joined the ARMY when I actually joined the Marines is not factual.
My point... On this board, the term GOVT is used as in your example of THE ARMY but means a cop or a town councilman. It may be a generalization but THERE IS A DIFFERENCE. Tying all GOVT into one being, especially on this board, ties the misdeeds of one cop in Indiana to the Bush administration, the Supreme Court, the local town councilman and the EPA all in one step. They are all guilty (as the govt) of the Indiana cops crime.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
The ARMY INVADES meaning the MILITARY, not only the army is a misuse of terms. But to say I joined the ARMY when I actually joined the Marines is not factual.
My point... On this board, the term GOVT is used as in your example of THE ARMY but means a cop or a town councilman. It may be a generalization but THERE IS A DIFFERENCE. Tying all GOVT into one being, especially on this board, ties the misdeeds of one cop in Indiana to the Bush administration, the Supreme Court, the local town councilman and the EPA all in one step. They are all guilty (as the govt) of the Indiana cops crime.
true....but when the government talks about itself as "not many folks are using the government assistance that is there for them"
we talk about agencies, but then the agencies talk 'the government'....very interchangeably.....
the use of 'they have to do something' was very much discouraged by the one teacher I had that was very much for making us think for ourselves and thereby taking responsibility for our choices, regardless of the outcome and she made sure to state 'mommy and daddy are not you and you are responsible for your actions and all consequences' she hated when we said 'they said so' 'they told me so' etc etc......
this was a 4th grade teacher....of whom I had the honor of nursing her husband after he had a stroke.....
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
It may be a generalization but THERE IS A DIFFERENCE. Tying all GOVT into one being, especially on this board, ties the misdeeds of one cop in Indiana to the Bush administration, the Supreme Court, the local town councilman and the EPA all in one step. They are all guilty (as the govt) of the Indiana cops crime.
Any misdeed committed by a government agent regardless of the WHO that is steering the government doesn't matter. The fact is that all governments, regardless who is in control of it, regardless of what level, is able to empower the bureucracies and agencies to control it's citizens through the use of force.
The only point I can concede is that local governments arbitrary laws could be considered more legitimate than State and Federal laws since they affect a smaller group of citizens and may actually have a larger percentage that consent. If the 25K citizens of Rotterdam wanted to purchase health insurance for all of the residents, that would be more legitimate than the 300 legislators that forced health insurance on to 315 million in all 50 states.
When the balance becomes tipped in the favor of oppression over service to the citizenry, then we have a problem. We have a problem.
"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."
When the balance becomes tipped in the favor of oppression over service to the citizenry, then we have a problem. We have a problem.
Graham is "OPPRESSED"!
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
Well, you keep saying there is a "war on women", so I assume you believe "the government" is OPPRESSING women. You claim the "poor" pay a disproportionate share than the "rich", so there is a "war on the poor" and the government is OPPRESSING the poor by taking more of their money. You make claims of the oppressive government forcing religeous values onto the people.
You've made many claims of goverment force and oppression, you just disguise it as a "party".
Well, you keep saying there is a "war on women", so I assume you believe "the government" is OPPRESSING women. You claim the "poor" pay a disproportionate share than the "rich", so there is a "war on the poor" and the government is OPPRESSING the poor by taking more of their money. You make claims of the oppressive government forcing religeous values onto the people.
You've made many claims of goverment force and oppression, you just disguise it as a "party".
Come on Cicero... You're not THAT dumb!
Every time Cicero 'assumes' he always gets it wrong. In my posts about the war on women, it usually starts (as does the thread on this board) with THE REPUBLICAN WAR ON WOMEN. THE GOP WAR ON WOMEN. THE RIGHT'S WAR ON WOMEN. CONSERVATIVE WAR ON WOMEN. I don't think that I've ever posted the US Government war on women. Really Cic... Is this the best you can do??? "Well, you keep saying there is a "war on women", so I assume you believe "the government" is OPPRESSING women"
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
Every time Cicero 'assumes' he always gets it wrong. In my posts about the war on women, it usually starts (as does the thread on this board) with THE REPUBLICAN WAR ON WOMEN. THE GOP WAR ON WOMEN. THE RIGHT'S WAR ON WOMEN. CONSERVATIVE WAR ON WOMEN. I don't think that I've ever posted the US Government war on women. Really Cic... Is this the best you can do??? "Well, you keep saying there is a "war on women", so I assume you believe "the government" is OPPRESSING women"
How does the GOP have a war on women without the power of government? Isn't the GOP competing for government control?
Is the Green Party waging a "war on women" or maybe a "war on capitalism"? NO - because they have no government power.
Political Parties do not wage wars, the government does the waging. Government wields the force and coercive powers. The Republican Party cannot fine, arrest, or jail me or you, only the government can.
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