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Thursday, April 7, 2011

Slaves Of The State?

This should make your blood run cold.

From this article in the Wall Street Journal (hat tip to Weasel Zippers):
...More Americans work for the government than work in construction, farming, fishing, forestry, manufacturing, mining and utilities combined. We have moved decisively from a nation of makers to a nation of takers. Nearly half of the $2.2 trillion cost of state and local governments is the $1 trillion-a-year tab for pay and benefits of state and local employees. Is it any wonder that so many states and cities cannot pay their bills?

Every state in America today except for two—Indiana and Wisconsin—has more government workers on the payroll than people manufacturing industrial goods....
Also from the article:
This is an almost exact reversal of the situation in 1960, when there were 15 million workers in manufacturing and 8.7 million collecting a paycheck from the government.
Read the entire essay at the above link.

Let's not kid ourselves.

With the government as the major employer, people will be even more inclined to vote their own entitlements and even less inclined to voice opposition to policies that bring about those entitlements.

I know for a fact that when I worked for the county school system I was less inclined to be politically active, specifically, politically active as a conservative. And, honestly, I didn't want to risk losing my job.

Exactly how can the United States remain a major world power if the government is the primary employer and the employer of choice?

I tell you this: I'm glad that I'm as old as I am and will not be around to see what America will become in another generation.

19 comments:

  1. They are easing us into Marx's dream one step at a time.

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  2. What the future holds is we will find that when everyone works for the government, there will be no one to pay their salaries.

    It seems obvious to us but...

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  3. This is how you build a one party state, and the ruling oligarchy was crafty enough to disguise it as a two-party one.

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  4. Oh yeah and the gov workers know someone and have their flunky relatives working at those jobs!

    They need to lose their job!

    Meanwhile our troops aren’t getting paid!

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  5. And they're likely all told exactly how to vote, too.

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  6. “Our government teaches the whole people by its example. If the government becomes the lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy.” —Louis Brandeis

    We should assume a parallel when government teaches us we are entitled to substantial wages and yet, produce nothing of value. We should not be surprised when most employees of the US government will vote for a presidential candidate who promises them job security by growing government, as opposed to a candidate who intends to make government smaller. I have no doubt that Barack Hussein Obama will be reelected.

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  7. I'm assuming they're not counting people who are not in manufacturing but other non-govt jobs, so it's probably not as bad. Well i hope, either way, you're still heading that way.

    Places like the UK are further down the road than you are, the NHS is their biggest employer. This is how government grows to a point where it keeps itself in power, in essence you can't get rid of it, cos it's a voting block on its own.

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  8. Not all government employees are getting their dues and that is our military personnel, which, in my opinion, should come first above everyone else working in the government.

    I do not like where this is going and I hope Obama does not win another term or the United States will be a socialist nation.

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  9. Sam,
    I have no doubt that Barack Hussein Obama will be reelected.

    Probably so. **sigh**

    By the time that November 2012 rolls around, the electorate will likely have forgotten that BHO zoomed off to Philadelphia yesterday so as to campaign -- in the midst of the present budget crisis.

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  10. This nation is becoming more fascist by the day. The fact the military will suffer due to Obama and his sick politics and the Dems selfishness is horrifying to me.

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  11. This IS alarming, because this means that most people now depend on the state for their livelihood and therefore aren't likely to want to shrink it.

    A bunch of people going to vote wearing their union polos...

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  12. The voters won't bite the hand that feeds them, and that is exactly what Obama and Libs know.

    Debbie
    Right Truth
    http://www.righttruth.typepad.com

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  13. Debbie nailed it. If they get enough people dependent on government, either through employment or programs, they will never vote against their masters.

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  14. Yes, Debbie and Matt - that is the goal. However the progressives can't seem to accept that such a system is unsustainable. Witness the Soviet Union. Certainly, Reagan's policies helped push it over the edge, but largely it collapsed from all the bureaucratic red tape and dependency which socialism fosters. Even the "soft" socialism of western Europe has shown itself to be unsustainable. That is the one problem with where we are as a nation now. I fear we are going to have to go through some serious withdrawal pains before we have a chance of setting things right. There were always about 25% of the populace that favored the incumbent administration no matter what. I'm just concerned that even with all the warning signals and clear evidence in their own words, 40% or better still think Obama (and by extension Democrats) are doing a good job). Thirty years of brainwashing and handouts has made inroads.

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  15. Alligator,
    Your comment is spot on.

    The last 30 years of entitlements -- the ruination of America.

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  16. Speedy,
    Thanks for those links!

    When my computers crashed, I lost the link to Brain Mind. I'm now going to put that link in my sidebar.

    ReplyDelete

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