Your “Birdbrain” Lord of the rings series is brilliant. However in many ways it is insulting to the many genius birds in history. The road runner, Tweetie Bird Donald and Daffy Ducks for example all had more pure intelligence and common sense than Joe Biden or any present day Democrat. Even the goofy Big Bird was more coherent than any of them. Please consider renaming your opus “Bidenbrain” for tomorrow’s “Swan song.”
what makes you think that Surber has a swan song set for tomorrow? I foresee that this could be carried on for a long time since we're surrounded by so many examples of stupid people!
Is it possible to write a sequel to the Lord of the rings ….yes. I am sure, Mr. Surber will continue his sequels akin to The Hobbit exploring the madness, gripping our country in the next few weeks. However along the way, he may have to do one or two side bars on the recently discovered self named gorilla vices P***y FANI Willis.
Last I check, monopoly money is the only kind, unless you want to barter. The governments own enough gold, silver, etc. that switching back to that would put us in much the same spot (they could use corruptible and/or hungry people to corner resources in a market and enslave it... then move to the next).
As long as people have no faith in God, God will appoint corrupt leaders. Most people have the causality backwards on that one.
I am sure our government is trying really hard to figure out how to tax barters. And they are outlawing growing your own food and selling it to others. The Amish farmer in Penn they are hounding to death because he dare be productive and not under the governments' thumb.
But again, the answer is not to struggle against leaders God has put in place. The answer is to fan the flames of your faith and that of those around you.
How about doing both of your great suggestions? ....my patience is nearly all used up, as an Aries in GEORGIA, shouldn't WE be doing more than we are doing now????
Paying taxes doesn’t matter now. The Fed and Congress will just wave a wand, create more $$ out of thin air and spend it. How much in taxes is paid now has NO relation to what the ‘Government’…*by Some people”…can spend…..
There will be no federal government or congress. I'm writing a song: The lyrics are: "Like a book needs pages, like a table needs legs, my federal government, who the hell needs you?"
Right! Ukraine is now the 52nd state, and nobody but Biden got to vote for it. Makes me wonder if Ukraine is seeking reparations for all that the Biden's stole from them for 20 years.
There was a time when Americans understood that the essence of government is coercion. This was made clear by the Bible that nearly all Americans believed in and relied upon in forming their ideas about government. They remembered that Paul said rulers do not bear the sword in vain. With that understanding, they sought to have as little government as possible. That worked when we were a "moral and religious people," in the words of another long-dead white man. Our internal checks and balances, based on "moral and religious" scruples, kept our utterly depraved (hat tip, John Calvin) impulses restrained. Having removed those "religious and moral" restraints from the equation, we now must rely on external constraints to reign in those impulses. Thus, more laws, more government intrusion and less freedom. When it was decided by our societal betters that religion was an impediment to the unfettered expression of their egotistical, narcissistic solipsism, they banned it from the public square and forced it out of the school curricula, the better to make the people forget about God. By this means, they concomittantly usurped the role that religion had played in governing people's behavior and took it upon themselves to become the restraining force. Of course, they only restrained those behaviors and ideas they found contrary to their ideals, so now we can't have any religious expression in the public square unless it is from their approved religion of secular humanism. So teaching children that the Fifth Commandment forbids the unjustified taking of innocent human life is out and teaching them that a mother has the right to kill the child growing in her womb is in. That is merely one of the myraid of examples of how removal of the Christian God from our society has afflicted us. The indisputable fact is that everybody serves somebody. Think what you will of Bob Dylan, he got that one absolutely right--because he took it right out of Scripture. Our social superiors have decided they want us to serve them rather than the God of the universe. It's up to us whether to accede to their wishes or not. The Children of Israel were once given this choice, too. Joshua told them, "Choose this day whom you will serve." Will it be the false gods of today or the True God of eternity? The fate of our nation, as well as your eternal soul, rides on the answer you choose. Choose wisely.
Wonderful writing, Steve! You have made my day. Our country has fallen into ruin because we let go of the Founding Principles for Americans to live by, taken right from Scripture. Being established as a Christian nation made America great. Many of us have watched the very bad movie over several decades, of our plummet into communism and worse. Our government has changed, our Churches have changed, WE have allowed Satan to live among us, unfettered by common sense or basic restrictions of safety. WE allowed a few to handle ALL of our business; our business is now theirs to do with as they please. We are, yet gain, at square One. "Choose, this day, whom you will serve". A quick synopsis of why this has meaning comes from the Book of Joshua (Bible). Chapters 23 and 24. It is like a fast moving movie, most enlightening and enjoyable.
Steve, thanks for your brilliant assessment - but don't lawyers learn how to use paragraphs? Give our eyes some help and create a new paragraph (take a breath) every few sentences. More people would read your comments, I guarantee.
Don't take this as a criticism (I love everything you have to say) just a friendly suggestion (from a preacher who has learned you have to take a breath once in a while and illustrate your point when preaching - or people zone out).
Steve, I agree with RevMikeyMac. You have great, articulate, interesting content, but my eyes go batty moving from the end of a line to the left hand margin and trying to figure out which line is the continuation of the previous line.
I cannot disagree, except for two minor errors. In "... to reign in those impulses" , the verb should be "rein in", and when Paul talked about the rulers carrying the sword, I believe he was talking about the rulers of the synagogue in Rome, where the Christians were then meeting. There are many reasons for that interpretation, but merely consider one: when Paul wrote his letter, Nero was emperor.
Although I blush in shame at my spelling/usage error, I feel gratified that at least one person takes time to read my comments closely enough to notice a mistake and for that I offer my thanks. Sometimes my old eyes don't pick things up as they should---not to mention my old brain Meanwhile, I will demur on your exigesis of Paul's letter to the Roman church. There is general support for the date of the letter to be between AD 55 and 59, and although Nero began his reign in AD 54, the persecutioin of Christians for which he was famous did not begin until AD 64. There is no doubt that the persecution of Christians by Jews had begun long before that in Judea and elsewhere--as you obviously are aware--and Christians could avoid it by appealing to Roman authority. So, when Paul composed his Epistle to the believers in Rome, he had no reason to think that the Roman government would eventually become the greatest source of persecution, and thus had no reason not to tell the Roman believers to trust or place themselves under Roman authority, as Paul himself did when he "appealed to Rome" to avoid being stoned by the Jews (Acts 22-23). This changed drastically when the persecution got underway and he found himself imprisoned and ultimately executed circa AD 68. Or so I believe.
Well, it's true that Nero had not quite finished turning into the monster he is known as -- but regardless, there are many other historical facts and Scripture passages that point to a different interpretation -- for the open-minded; and when you see the extent to which the traditional interpretation you favor has gone, you can only wonder how much more absurd it can get.
This is not the place or the space to advance all of my arguments, but I have been working on an essay that is approaching 70 pages, single spaced, arguing for a very different interpretation. Once it is done -- and I'm very bad at estimating how long things take -- I'd be glad to email you a copy.
In many ways, the triumph of the digital over the analog has been a disaster for us. I for one am sick to death of the need for f***ing passwords and two-step authentication codes to conduct any kind of business.
Im tired of them collecting all my info and documents that are not theirs, and then charging me for keeping my own info. And selling it to everyone including the government who uses it in illegal searches and seizures. Just so the government can get all up in my business where it doesnt belong.
And them manufacturing things to break. Apple and Microsoft being some of the top ones. An Apple phone is designed to last 13-15 months. And if yours runs past that, they update the software to overheat it to break the battery.
Yes - wouldn't it be great if 'We The People' had access to all our 'servant' Senators' and Congresspersons' passwords and saved documents? Bet we could put them all in prison until Jesus returns (which some days, can't come soon enough!).
Do you all remember the perfectly accurate old saying - IF IT AIIN'T BROKE, DON'T FIX IT?
Speaking of which, every time Apple provides yet another update, they screw up things that used to previously work perfectly well. and, while I'm ranting today, for some unbeknown reason, now whenever I happen to want to make a comment on the daily blog on my iPhone, I now must have a special code that never seems to provide me access to post anything. In the recent past - like say last week, once I'd posted something on my laptop, then I was able to make additional postings via my iPhone. I love Don Surber, but not enough to purchase 2 paid subscriptions-even if it would be for the Bentley fund!
I’m just surprised that NASA has any time to even think about making laws for the moon, since their purpose these days seems to be promoting DIE and the many wonderful qualities of Islam.
Decades ago a fellow named Honda who had a nice motorcycle company going and wanted to build cars complained about interference from the government; "If they want to tell me how to run this company they can buy stock, come to a shareholder's meeting and put it to a vote."
Totally agree it is time to restore DC to the pristine swamp it was using bureaucrats for fill as needed.As a youth I was told if government gets involved trouble follows.The road to hell is paved with good intentions?Lead on Mr.Surber,the battle is at hand.
“Parts per trillion? How do you measure that? Why would you measure that?
We have conceded too much power and authority to nimrods who have no idea how what they regulate works.”
Exactly. I am a lifetime public employee(soldier and volunteer firefighter) and the folks on the ground are not the problem(usually); we are trying to serve using faulty systems. Most above the ground level fit the quote above.
Here is the thing: Go to your city council meetings and offer your experience and thoughts. You will get mostly positive reactions as the people that run for those offices mean well but do not know how to solve, say, construction issues as they are not contractors. If you are met with disdain that should immediately remind you that they are corrupt and you should do everything you can to get them out.
I’ll bet the EPA set that PFAS target to an immeasurable amount so as to creat yet one more money laundering consulting advising measuring prescribing butnotfixinganything industrial fear mongering complex. We may be stuck with septic but we have our own well.
Good commentary, Mr. Surber. I particularly liked your recommendation that D.C. be returned to swampland. As a first step in limiting governennt and saving Gaia, and as a means of cutting back on electricity consumption, I recommend we immediately outlaw the use of air conditioners in the District of Columbia. That would go a long way toward limiting the reach of government.
Trump needs to pivot his talking points to undermining empty suit who will be the MIIC and green energy stooge for president: Biden? Kamala? Hilary? Michelle? Newsom?
He should make the case that even if Biden was mentally competent, he would still sign whatever is put in from of him. Remind the Democrats they have no control over who the party picks as their choice. Remind them how Sanders was sacked at the 2016 convention for Hilary's sake, and how Biden was suddenly anointed in 2020 and all the opposition melted away. Tell them regardless of who they pick as the chosen one, this is what is in store: more forever wars, more illegal immigration, more entitlements cut for Americans transferred to illegals, more inflation, more appliances you have to replace, more children mutilated for ideological reasons. Whoever is the puppet master behind the anointed one will monitor your speech, track where you travel, track what you buy, track what you read, track what movies you watch and what streaming shows you binge on.
He then pivots that it doesn't have to be so, and we can stop this unelected takeover of our country. And here is how we will do it, but I need your help.....
This article does a good job of pointing out how completely ineffective, worthless, and actually destructive our congress………..and most administrations, have become. Along with the elite class, we have allowed an even more powerful political class to be created. They don’t fix anything because doing so would point out they created the problem. So they blame the other party and set about to create another flawed law or program to take our eyes off the original problem. Now we have the Democrat party working outside the law to achieve what they could not do thru legislation. But it’s not our system that is the problem behind all this, it’s the people in office and working for them in unelected office that are the source of this mess. I like Dons reference to draining the swamp that DC was built upon. So let’s really do this and then move every agency and department out to the far flung states, keeping the WH and Capitol here on the mall. But first, install term limits for every elected office. End the political class before they end us.
Hmmm ... "move every agency and department to ..." It's my considered opinion that we've got far too many agencies and departments; so instead of moving them so they can more effectively afflict innocent people in Wyoming, why not take Jefferson's advice and employ the pruning shears?
Absolutely agree, but how many politicians are ever going to even talk about closing an agency of the government? Right, zero. Political suicide for anyone who proposes to do so. Nothing congress creates ever goes away. Keep hoping and advocating for it nonetheless but not going to happen. We're stuck with them all. So all we can do is use the budget to eliminate personnel within those agencies. Once people realize government agencies are just vehicles for an invisible and huge federal jobs program, you can understand how people on the Hill think. The equation goes something like this: added fed jobs = re-election. Never matters if the agency involved is actually necessary either. It is about re-election job security.
And, it goes a long way towards explaining why DC is 90 or 95% Democrat. But you speak as if federal bureaucrats are the only voters who count, and to that I must object; there are a lot more of us.
That said, I myself have long held that the only way the growth of the federal government could ever be stopped would be if we're hit by some huge catastrophe. I don't know what that might be be; one possibility that has been advanced is running out of credible money, precipitated by the feds' inability to sell any more bonds. Another that comes to mind would be an huge natural catastrophe afflicting much of the country -- like Yellowstone erupting, or the Pacific coast ruined by the long-expected, huge earthquake. Or an unnatural catastrophe, like nuclear war. In such cases I would expect government to finally set priorities -- or else ship the DC bureaucrats off to do disaster remediation, which could be educational for them and sobering for government-loving public.
I have read several scenarios regarding what it would take to actually make a significant reduction in the size of the federal workforce. One always is the same: lack of revenue. Yet they continue as we speak with a lack of revenue because they cannot wean themselves off of spending other peoples money. They take in plenty to run the government but spend far more than that. The worst part, and most infuriating, is this meme they seem to have that they "must" give foreign aid to other countries. But why? Who decided on that rule? I have always said that our aid, if we have it, should be in the form of loans. If they cannot show they can pay it back in a reasonable time frame then no loans. Who on earth thinks it is a good idea to give away funds we do not have and must borrow, which only weakens us. There is clearly something very, very wrong with the operation of our government today. Either we fix it and control the events from doing so or it will fix itself but with no control by us.
I don't disagree, nor do I claim that such money is well spent; for one case in point, consider that Saint Fauci seems to have been at the very heart of giving the Wuhan lab the money for the genetic manipulations that enabled the creation of the Covid bug.
But I have no confidence that turning giveaways into loans would work. Even the Chinese, with their Belt-and-Road initiative, have been finding that out. And you have to keep in mind that any independent country, no matter how small and powerless, can simply repudiate its debts, and be done with them; all it takes is to put some rabble-rouser in charge, and his people will praise him for asserting their independence from the Great Satan. True, such countries will ruin their creditworthiness for a few years, but such things have happened -- and during quite a few countries' existence, repeatedly at that.
Except that I believe the defaulted loans are the point of the Belt-and-Road initiative. China now owes a lot of stuff in Africa and other places that include most of the mines that produce all the stuff that solar panels and other *cough *cough Green Energy needs.
Hard to disagree with a word of your comment my friend. On the subject of Mr. Fauci, doesn't it make you wonder just a bit why virtually no one in congress is fuming about his actions that are seemingly outside of every norm we have previously upheld? Other than Senator Rand Paul, few seem interested in what should be a major call for reform of our health agencies. Was he working independently or under who's direction? And how did, or who allowed, a federal health agency job to become the top paying federal position in all of government? Then too, where was the so-called congressional oversight of his agency and his actions? Good questions that every taxpayer should be asking I believe. About all I know for sure is that our government is out of control and so broken it remains to be seen if it is repairable, or if enough people even care if it is fixed or not.
Your “Birdbrain” Lord of the rings series is brilliant. However in many ways it is insulting to the many genius birds in history. The road runner, Tweetie Bird Donald and Daffy Ducks for example all had more pure intelligence and common sense than Joe Biden or any present day Democrat. Even the goofy Big Bird was more coherent than any of them. Please consider renaming your opus “Bidenbrain” for tomorrow’s “Swan song.”
what makes you think that Surber has a swan song set for tomorrow? I foresee that this could be carried on for a long time since we're surrounded by so many examples of stupid people!
Is it possible to write a sequel to the Lord of the rings ….yes. I am sure, Mr. Surber will continue his sequels akin to The Hobbit exploring the madness, gripping our country in the next few weeks. However along the way, he may have to do one or two side bars on the recently discovered self named gorilla vices P***y FANI Willis.
You are a poet and don't know it!
I see what you did there
When will the people get together and decide to stop paying taxes? Bankrupt the bastards. Then we can start all over again...perhaps, on the moon.
They'll just print money for themselves to reduce what ours is worth.
Monopoly money? No tax income, no federal government. "CLOSED" sign on every federal building. The states willl be just fine governing themselves.
Last I check, monopoly money is the only kind, unless you want to barter. The governments own enough gold, silver, etc. that switching back to that would put us in much the same spot (they could use corruptible and/or hungry people to corner resources in a market and enslave it... then move to the next).
As long as people have no faith in God, God will appoint corrupt leaders. Most people have the causality backwards on that one.
I am sure our government is trying really hard to figure out how to tax barters. And they are outlawing growing your own food and selling it to others. The Amish farmer in Penn they are hounding to death because he dare be productive and not under the governments' thumb.
But again, the answer is not to struggle against leaders God has put in place. The answer is to fan the flames of your faith and that of those around you.
I'm not convinced God has put morons and criminals in charge. Only people who interpret Romans 13:1-7 literally think that.
How about doing both of your great suggestions? ....my patience is nearly all used up, as an Aries in GEORGIA, shouldn't WE be doing more than we are doing now????
And by the way, sell every federal building in DC. Reduce the debt with the proceeds.
Or just the unused land and buildings....I understand there are tons..
Paying taxes doesn’t matter now. The Fed and Congress will just wave a wand, create more $$ out of thin air and spend it. How much in taxes is paid now has NO relation to what the ‘Government’…*by Some people”…can spend…..
There will be no federal government or congress. I'm writing a song: The lyrics are: "Like a book needs pages, like a table needs legs, my federal government, who the hell needs you?"
Hah! Not really catchy, but certainly on the right track. Keep up the effort but Don’t quit your day job! 😉
New song: "If I had my life to live over, I'd live over a delicatessen."
especially if Ukraine needs it!
Right! Ukraine is now the 52nd state, and nobody but Biden got to vote for it. Makes me wonder if Ukraine is seeking reparations for all that the Biden's stole from them for 20 years.
We will all be close neighbors at Leavenworth, if we don't pay taxes. At least it'll be 3 hots and a cot for free.
If Trump doesn't get elected, it might be an improvement.
True dat DJ
I'd be inclined to send the bastards to the moon first...without oxygen. Then we can start over, both here and on the moon.
There was a time when Americans understood that the essence of government is coercion. This was made clear by the Bible that nearly all Americans believed in and relied upon in forming their ideas about government. They remembered that Paul said rulers do not bear the sword in vain. With that understanding, they sought to have as little government as possible. That worked when we were a "moral and religious people," in the words of another long-dead white man. Our internal checks and balances, based on "moral and religious" scruples, kept our utterly depraved (hat tip, John Calvin) impulses restrained. Having removed those "religious and moral" restraints from the equation, we now must rely on external constraints to reign in those impulses. Thus, more laws, more government intrusion and less freedom. When it was decided by our societal betters that religion was an impediment to the unfettered expression of their egotistical, narcissistic solipsism, they banned it from the public square and forced it out of the school curricula, the better to make the people forget about God. By this means, they concomittantly usurped the role that religion had played in governing people's behavior and took it upon themselves to become the restraining force. Of course, they only restrained those behaviors and ideas they found contrary to their ideals, so now we can't have any religious expression in the public square unless it is from their approved religion of secular humanism. So teaching children that the Fifth Commandment forbids the unjustified taking of innocent human life is out and teaching them that a mother has the right to kill the child growing in her womb is in. That is merely one of the myraid of examples of how removal of the Christian God from our society has afflicted us. The indisputable fact is that everybody serves somebody. Think what you will of Bob Dylan, he got that one absolutely right--because he took it right out of Scripture. Our social superiors have decided they want us to serve them rather than the God of the universe. It's up to us whether to accede to their wishes or not. The Children of Israel were once given this choice, too. Joshua told them, "Choose this day whom you will serve." Will it be the false gods of today or the True God of eternity? The fate of our nation, as well as your eternal soul, rides on the answer you choose. Choose wisely.
Excellent insight, Steve.
Well expressed Steve and spot on.
The removal of God is hastening the death of Western civilization.
Wonderful writing, Steve! You have made my day. Our country has fallen into ruin because we let go of the Founding Principles for Americans to live by, taken right from Scripture. Being established as a Christian nation made America great. Many of us have watched the very bad movie over several decades, of our plummet into communism and worse. Our government has changed, our Churches have changed, WE have allowed Satan to live among us, unfettered by common sense or basic restrictions of safety. WE allowed a few to handle ALL of our business; our business is now theirs to do with as they please. We are, yet gain, at square One. "Choose, this day, whom you will serve". A quick synopsis of why this has meaning comes from the Book of Joshua (Bible). Chapters 23 and 24. It is like a fast moving movie, most enlightening and enjoyable.
Sen. J. Mc Carthy was mocked and ridiculed but it turns out he was very prescient in his thinking.
Steve, thanks for your brilliant assessment - but don't lawyers learn how to use paragraphs? Give our eyes some help and create a new paragraph (take a breath) every few sentences. More people would read your comments, I guarantee.
Don't take this as a criticism (I love everything you have to say) just a friendly suggestion (from a preacher who has learned you have to take a breath once in a while and illustrate your point when preaching - or people zone out).
Steve, I agree with RevMikeyMac. You have great, articulate, interesting content, but my eyes go batty moving from the end of a line to the left hand margin and trying to figure out which line is the continuation of the previous line.
I cannot disagree, except for two minor errors. In "... to reign in those impulses" , the verb should be "rein in", and when Paul talked about the rulers carrying the sword, I believe he was talking about the rulers of the synagogue in Rome, where the Christians were then meeting. There are many reasons for that interpretation, but merely consider one: when Paul wrote his letter, Nero was emperor.
Although I blush in shame at my spelling/usage error, I feel gratified that at least one person takes time to read my comments closely enough to notice a mistake and for that I offer my thanks. Sometimes my old eyes don't pick things up as they should---not to mention my old brain Meanwhile, I will demur on your exigesis of Paul's letter to the Roman church. There is general support for the date of the letter to be between AD 55 and 59, and although Nero began his reign in AD 54, the persecutioin of Christians for which he was famous did not begin until AD 64. There is no doubt that the persecution of Christians by Jews had begun long before that in Judea and elsewhere--as you obviously are aware--and Christians could avoid it by appealing to Roman authority. So, when Paul composed his Epistle to the believers in Rome, he had no reason to think that the Roman government would eventually become the greatest source of persecution, and thus had no reason not to tell the Roman believers to trust or place themselves under Roman authority, as Paul himself did when he "appealed to Rome" to avoid being stoned by the Jews (Acts 22-23). This changed drastically when the persecution got underway and he found himself imprisoned and ultimately executed circa AD 68. Or so I believe.
Iron sharpening iron, my brother!
Well, it's true that Nero had not quite finished turning into the monster he is known as -- but regardless, there are many other historical facts and Scripture passages that point to a different interpretation -- for the open-minded; and when you see the extent to which the traditional interpretation you favor has gone, you can only wonder how much more absurd it can get.
This is not the place or the space to advance all of my arguments, but I have been working on an essay that is approaching 70 pages, single spaced, arguing for a very different interpretation. Once it is done -- and I'm very bad at estimating how long things take -- I'd be glad to email you a copy.
Amen.
In many ways, the triumph of the digital over the analog has been a disaster for us. I for one am sick to death of the need for f***ing passwords and two-step authentication codes to conduct any kind of business.
Im tired of them collecting all my info and documents that are not theirs, and then charging me for keeping my own info. And selling it to everyone including the government who uses it in illegal searches and seizures. Just so the government can get all up in my business where it doesnt belong.
And them manufacturing things to break. Apple and Microsoft being some of the top ones. An Apple phone is designed to last 13-15 months. And if yours runs past that, they update the software to overheat it to break the battery.
Yes - wouldn't it be great if 'We The People' had access to all our 'servant' Senators' and Congresspersons' passwords and saved documents? Bet we could put them all in prison until Jesus returns (which some days, can't come soon enough!).
Not to mention those infuriating "Captcha" pictures. Why are those damn things so fuzzy? Wait, I've got the solution! There ought to be a law ...
Lol
Wait u til your battery dies - unannounced - because the software telling the charger to recharge wasn’t updated with the last “gateway” update.
the men and women who used slide-rules were deaf to the illusion of precision that is the siren’s song of electronic computers
Do you all remember the perfectly accurate old saying - IF IT AIIN'T BROKE, DON'T FIX IT?
Speaking of which, every time Apple provides yet another update, they screw up things that used to previously work perfectly well. and, while I'm ranting today, for some unbeknown reason, now whenever I happen to want to make a comment on the daily blog on my iPhone, I now must have a special code that never seems to provide me access to post anything. In the recent past - like say last week, once I'd posted something on my laptop, then I was able to make additional postings via my iPhone. I love Don Surber, but not enough to purchase 2 paid subscriptions-even if it would be for the Bentley fund!
I’m just surprised that NASA has any time to even think about making laws for the moon, since their purpose these days seems to be promoting DIE and the many wonderful qualities of Islam.
Satan is everywhere, sadly.
Decades ago a fellow named Honda who had a nice motorcycle company going and wanted to build cars complained about interference from the government; "If they want to tell me how to run this company they can buy stock, come to a shareholder's meeting and put it to a vote."
That was the right answer then and now.
Many decades ago I first learned of Honda automobiles when I saw a poster for a Honda automobile in a motorcycle shop and thought it was funny.
Totally agree it is time to restore DC to the pristine swamp it was using bureaucrats for fill as needed.As a youth I was told if government gets involved trouble follows.The road to hell is paved with good intentions?Lead on Mr.Surber,the battle is at hand.
yep - a mosquito, yellow fever infested swampland - that's what they've earned
The moon does need protection from bureaucrats...
“Parts per trillion? How do you measure that? Why would you measure that?
We have conceded too much power and authority to nimrods who have no idea how what they regulate works.”
Exactly. I am a lifetime public employee(soldier and volunteer firefighter) and the folks on the ground are not the problem(usually); we are trying to serve using faulty systems. Most above the ground level fit the quote above.
Here is the thing: Go to your city council meetings and offer your experience and thoughts. You will get mostly positive reactions as the people that run for those offices mean well but do not know how to solve, say, construction issues as they are not contractors. If you are met with disdain that should immediately remind you that they are corrupt and you should do everything you can to get them out.
I haven't heard the work nimrod in ages - what a wonderful trip down memory lane!
I’ll bet the EPA set that PFAS target to an immeasurable amount so as to creat yet one more money laundering consulting advising measuring prescribing butnotfixinganything industrial fear mongering complex. We may be stuck with septic but we have our own well.
You nailed it EOD.
TOTALLY how they roll!!
I can't vote in the poll this morning. It's like trying to pick between Biden, Schumer, Pelosi and (token) Kerry.
Stop trying to keep Musk from getting richer and begin working to make Gates and Bezos poorer.
Good commentary, Mr. Surber. I particularly liked your recommendation that D.C. be returned to swampland. As a first step in limiting governennt and saving Gaia, and as a means of cutting back on electricity consumption, I recommend we immediately outlaw the use of air conditioners in the District of Columbia. That would go a long way toward limiting the reach of government.
Great idea.
The hot air founts would exit DC apace.
Oh dear Lord! How You have struck the chord of ALL that ails us: the Government!
I did my part buying a rebuilt Sunbeam toaster. It works. And a new refrigerator that won’t take any pictures and has no wifi.
Amen, and I broke my shower head so I can take a real shower.
You should start a LetMomFixit franchise.
Trump needs to pivot his talking points to undermining empty suit who will be the MIIC and green energy stooge for president: Biden? Kamala? Hilary? Michelle? Newsom?
He should make the case that even if Biden was mentally competent, he would still sign whatever is put in from of him. Remind the Democrats they have no control over who the party picks as their choice. Remind them how Sanders was sacked at the 2016 convention for Hilary's sake, and how Biden was suddenly anointed in 2020 and all the opposition melted away. Tell them regardless of who they pick as the chosen one, this is what is in store: more forever wars, more illegal immigration, more entitlements cut for Americans transferred to illegals, more inflation, more appliances you have to replace, more children mutilated for ideological reasons. Whoever is the puppet master behind the anointed one will monitor your speech, track where you travel, track what you buy, track what you read, track what movies you watch and what streaming shows you binge on.
He then pivots that it doesn't have to be so, and we can stop this unelected takeover of our country. And here is how we will do it, but I need your help.....
GMTA Alan !!
This article does a good job of pointing out how completely ineffective, worthless, and actually destructive our congress………..and most administrations, have become. Along with the elite class, we have allowed an even more powerful political class to be created. They don’t fix anything because doing so would point out they created the problem. So they blame the other party and set about to create another flawed law or program to take our eyes off the original problem. Now we have the Democrat party working outside the law to achieve what they could not do thru legislation. But it’s not our system that is the problem behind all this, it’s the people in office and working for them in unelected office that are the source of this mess. I like Dons reference to draining the swamp that DC was built upon. So let’s really do this and then move every agency and department out to the far flung states, keeping the WH and Capitol here on the mall. But first, install term limits for every elected office. End the political class before they end us.
Hmmm ... "move every agency and department to ..." It's my considered opinion that we've got far too many agencies and departments; so instead of moving them so they can more effectively afflict innocent people in Wyoming, why not take Jefferson's advice and employ the pruning shears?
Pruning shears? It will take a hundred chain saws!
Absolutely agree, but how many politicians are ever going to even talk about closing an agency of the government? Right, zero. Political suicide for anyone who proposes to do so. Nothing congress creates ever goes away. Keep hoping and advocating for it nonetheless but not going to happen. We're stuck with them all. So all we can do is use the budget to eliminate personnel within those agencies. Once people realize government agencies are just vehicles for an invisible and huge federal jobs program, you can understand how people on the Hill think. The equation goes something like this: added fed jobs = re-election. Never matters if the agency involved is actually necessary either. It is about re-election job security.
And, it goes a long way towards explaining why DC is 90 or 95% Democrat. But you speak as if federal bureaucrats are the only voters who count, and to that I must object; there are a lot more of us.
That said, I myself have long held that the only way the growth of the federal government could ever be stopped would be if we're hit by some huge catastrophe. I don't know what that might be be; one possibility that has been advanced is running out of credible money, precipitated by the feds' inability to sell any more bonds. Another that comes to mind would be an huge natural catastrophe afflicting much of the country -- like Yellowstone erupting, or the Pacific coast ruined by the long-expected, huge earthquake. Or an unnatural catastrophe, like nuclear war. In such cases I would expect government to finally set priorities -- or else ship the DC bureaucrats off to do disaster remediation, which could be educational for them and sobering for government-loving public.
But yes, I may be too optimistic ...
I have read several scenarios regarding what it would take to actually make a significant reduction in the size of the federal workforce. One always is the same: lack of revenue. Yet they continue as we speak with a lack of revenue because they cannot wean themselves off of spending other peoples money. They take in plenty to run the government but spend far more than that. The worst part, and most infuriating, is this meme they seem to have that they "must" give foreign aid to other countries. But why? Who decided on that rule? I have always said that our aid, if we have it, should be in the form of loans. If they cannot show they can pay it back in a reasonable time frame then no loans. Who on earth thinks it is a good idea to give away funds we do not have and must borrow, which only weakens us. There is clearly something very, very wrong with the operation of our government today. Either we fix it and control the events from doing so or it will fix itself but with no control by us.
I don't disagree, nor do I claim that such money is well spent; for one case in point, consider that Saint Fauci seems to have been at the very heart of giving the Wuhan lab the money for the genetic manipulations that enabled the creation of the Covid bug.
But I have no confidence that turning giveaways into loans would work. Even the Chinese, with their Belt-and-Road initiative, have been finding that out. And you have to keep in mind that any independent country, no matter how small and powerless, can simply repudiate its debts, and be done with them; all it takes is to put some rabble-rouser in charge, and his people will praise him for asserting their independence from the Great Satan. True, such countries will ruin their creditworthiness for a few years, but such things have happened -- and during quite a few countries' existence, repeatedly at that.
Except that I believe the defaulted loans are the point of the Belt-and-Road initiative. China now owes a lot of stuff in Africa and other places that include most of the mines that produce all the stuff that solar panels and other *cough *cough Green Energy needs.
Hard to disagree with a word of your comment my friend. On the subject of Mr. Fauci, doesn't it make you wonder just a bit why virtually no one in congress is fuming about his actions that are seemingly outside of every norm we have previously upheld? Other than Senator Rand Paul, few seem interested in what should be a major call for reform of our health agencies. Was he working independently or under who's direction? And how did, or who allowed, a federal health agency job to become the top paying federal position in all of government? Then too, where was the so-called congressional oversight of his agency and his actions? Good questions that every taxpayer should be asking I believe. About all I know for sure is that our government is out of control and so broken it remains to be seen if it is repairable, or if enough people even care if it is fixed or not.
They then boast of jobs created Reddog.
It's sick, isn't it.