The Top 5 Most Ridiculous Gov’t Expenses Found in This Year’s ‘Wastebook’ ( Archived) (42)

I'm a keen of supporter of a Britain being run from Westminster and not Brussels. I dislike a government that attempts to encompass too much diversity and scope, so, whilst i'm supporting my national government and you are opposing your own we are both in reality arguing for the same thing.

I think many on the modern-Left perceive opposition to big-government as an excuse for government inaction - in some cases the perception would be correct - but this is not my view.

Democratic government does broadly reflect upon the common sense of the citizens.

People are slowly but surely becoming more level-headed than before. So there is an argument, indeed, a potential to have a state that functions better than in previous times.

Not my view either. Back to this case I'm working on now with the family who just had four children uncermoniously dropped in their lap in the middle of the night.

Imagine not having a lot of money on your own - but you just barely manage to pay the bills and you get by well enough. Then suddenly the government comes to your door with four desperately needy children (with behavioral problems). Ok...that's a good service on the face of things because these children have been taken from deplorable conditions and DO need all the help they can get.

But what happens next is that they say...Oh by the way, you and your husband have to be at OUR offices fifty miles away by 5:00 tomorrow to be finger-printed and have a background check. We don't care if you're working...we don't care that it would be much easier for you to go down to the local sheriff's office...we don't care if you need gas money...Just be there.

Then they say, "Oh yes! Federal assistance is available in the form of food stamps, etc...but you have to come back and APPLY for that and it takes six weeks to process..."

Excuse me? These children need food TOMORROW. They need clothes TOMORROW... They don't have six weeks for help and we don't have the money either.

Then they say, oh by the way...nobody can come near these children unless they have also had a criminal background check...so you can't have any help. No babysitters, no family members, no friends can come over to visit...nothing...until we approve the visitors.

This is the kind of "assistance" that our government should be doubling down on. They should have FIRST priority, not get caught up in "the system." Local agencies should control the funding - and I would suggest they would manage the money far better than the feds.,

Not my view either. Back to this case I'm working on now with the family who just had four children uncermoniously dropped in their lap in the middle of the night.


I'm sorry, but why were these children dumped on some one in the middle of the night, am I missing something here??

Oh I see tis is your social services procedure

So anyway, I ran into the mother at the grocery store yesterday which is when I learned about her plight. I've been through this twice before with other friends so her story was not unfamiliar. My neighbor was also there and she was one of the people who this also happened to... We both immediately pitched in $50 bucks and are going to go to work today contacting the local food bank and the churches to see what kind of support we can get these people.

Generally speaking, this is where the majority of "one-on-one" assistance comes from in Amercan communities. Local churches and business... mainstream America is far, FAR kinder than big government.

This seems a preposterous and completely unacceptable state of affairs. It would be far better for concerned locals to deal with these issues wherever possible, applying the knowledge only they can have in that it is unique to their position.

It is my view that centralisation is occuring as a result of the diminishing sense of organic community, what we might call neighbourliness, individuals becoming so self-involved that they fail to tend to their own backyard. "Socialism" is arising out of anti-socialism.

My hope is that this recession would reinvigorate the community, now that it is more becoming more difficult to fill the void within the soul with tonnes and tonnes of stuff, people may once again turn their affections to people - not in the sense of the Humanitarian/Hippy with their abstract views of Humanity but, in the real sense of people of common bond, blood, circumstance & culture, the intrinsic peculiarities and personalities within this that give the word home its true meaning.

Thanks for listening. Federal programs do sometimes start with the best of intentions - but usually fail miserably in the end. It's just too big and burdonsome to handle CRITICAL individual problems and there's not much accountability in the end. Politicians bury their theft and mis-use of funds under mountains of regulation... I just individual states would be better off parceling out the money to individual counties where the accountability is much greater. These public servants are your friends and neighbors. When there is a problem, you actually have a person to go to and you have the ability to boot them out if they fail in theri responsibilities.