In most cases, which of the following statements are you more likely to believe (see details)?

A. The right government can be a positive force for a better world.


B. Government is not the solution to our problems, government is the problem.





And why?In most cases, which of the following statements are you more likely to believe (see details)?
A.








Where would we be without government?


Without police/fire fighting services?In most cases, which of the following statements are you more likely to believe (see details)?
In the first statement, the word government is modified with the word ';right.'; The right government ...That would depend entirely on someone's definition of the ';right government.';





In the second, which is a quote from the infamous traitor Ronald Reagan, the word government is not modified, so it means all governments are problems. Reagan tried all he could to destroy the government, but Clinton saved it, only to have the worse traitor Bush II try to ruin it again. I think Bush may have succeeded.
I am more likely to believe A.





B is bullshit propaganda that the rich, those who control the capital, want us to believe





In an A type of world democracy, the individual vote, is more powerful, and this is the only power a poor person has in this country.





In a B type of world money is the only power, only those that have money have power.
A. Historically speaking, positive and progressive government has been responsible for providing things such as 13 or more years of free education, free health care and support for some of the most vulnerable citizens (namely, senior citizens), and cheap electricity to rural areas that would not have access to an electrical grid without government involvement. Many people in the United States profess to some sort of Judeo-Christian faith (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), and one of the core tenets of all of these religions is charity. I do not understand why people will profess their religion until they are blue in the face, but are up in arms when their tax dollars go to help those who, as their religion states, they should be donating to and working with anyway.
Our government is supposed to be a government by the people, of the people and for the people. It is not some separate enemy entity. If we don't pay attention and stay involved, government officials can start usurping power to themselves and violate the basic civil liberties of individuals. We have seen both during the last 8 years.





A. is more of a believable statement, at least in a democratic country like ours and where the people are actively participating and paying attention.





People who advocate B are more inclined to be those who wish to alienate the people from their own government in order to use the government's resources to benefit a certain select group of the powerful and influential.
Both statements can be true. It depends on the circumstances. Getting the “right” government is difficult, as is getting the government “right.”





Which circumstances do we have today? IMO, it’s clearly B because we sure don’t have the “right” government. Our politicians have spent and borrowed us into a deep hole. In the case of the mortgage crisis, politicians were “regulating” an industry they didn’t understand and oversight was ineffective because they didn’t know what they were looking at.





Everyone knew there was a housing bubble and that it was only a matter of time before that bubble would burst. Yet the government pushed mortgage lenders to make more mortgage money available to low-income borrowers on very favorable terms: Zero down, negative amortization loans. In many cases, the ONLY ways these borrowers could meet their obligations was if they could flip their house, pocket a tidy profit and move to a less expensive house. But that made them speculators who had to time the market.





Why did the government allow mortgage lenders to delegate their loan approval authority to mortgage brokers? The brokers get their commissions when loans are funded, not as and when they are repaid. Their objective was to get as many loans approved as possible, and some of them bent the rules to achieve that objective. Why not? The brokers had no capital at stake and took no risk. The only thing they took was their commissions.





We need government for many things, national defense being one of them. We can’t put Wal-Mart or IBM in charge of our military. Washington has to approve treaties with other countries. We can’t delegate that responsibility to the state of Iowa. But maybe if we had, the “free trade” agreements negotiated on our behalf wouldn’t be killing us with debt and we would still have some manufacturing capacity.
I agree more with B.





Government is a necessary evil and any expansion of government comes at the expense of the liberty of its citizens. Thus, we should limit government to those functions that cannot be performed in a practical manner by any agency other than a government.





The best government is small, local and required to answer to the local people.
a) indirectly





good government facilitates a society that expedites individual realization of as positive force rather than dictating to a collective as to what that should be (which results in your option B).





b) it depends upon the government
I have to go with A. I think that government should be a force for good. Is there over stepping from time to time...yes. But someone needs to be looking at the big picture while I try to live my day to day life.
Government is the agency through which We the People act as a nation. If you see that as ';a problem'; then you must have a very peculiar way of looking at things.
Once you essentially cede control of the government by believing option B, the country becomes more vulnerable to dictatorship by the few. A is the reasonable option.
B.





Cuba, Soviet Russia, Venezuela, China, Iran.
B.





Two words, ';Social Security.';
very coherent, well thought out argument panama. did blago sell you your top contributor status?
B.





History and experience.





What has government not messed up that they have touched?





Hows our school system?


Hows the SSI program?


hows the welfare program?





The volunteer firefighters do MUCH more. God bless em.
B.


I'm an American.
Neither.





Never, never take any statement at face value regardless of the source. If you do, you are vulnerable to being suckered.





Always test everything you hear or read.





(In this case, Reagan was the source for B, and it is true in some circumstances. When he said it, we were at the beginning of Carter's 2-year recession. The statement may not apply in all circumstances.)
B. and Regan was right!!
B, well, have you seen what our government has done for the working class ?