Some time I read a quote from a woman who was horrified about what the “Feds” will do if they get their hands on health care. No kidding here, she said:

“They just better not touch my Medicare!”

Just goes to show you that if you repeat something often enough (i.e. “The ‘government’ screws up everything”) people start to take it as fact. The ‘government’ (local and federal) has brought us, aside from an excellent postal service:
1. A once-excellent system of Interstate Highways (which we now choose to underfund and allow to crumble).
2. Generally excellent Police and Fire protection with a generally excellent 9-1-1 system
3. An excellent FAA with an enviable airline safety record (though again, an underfunded system in sore need of updating).
4. An excellent military whose volunteers are paid far less than their civilian “counterparts” who’ve, as others have mentioned here, electrocuted those volunteers in showers!

Sure, there’s no automatic link between government sponsorship and great service anymore than there’s an automatic link between private sponsorship and great service. It simply takes oversight, accountability and proper funding.

i made a similar argument on cato institute, will wilkinson’s, website yesterday:

libertarians throw around the word “government” as an epithet. they are childish to believe that government is inherently bad. of course there is nothing inherently wrong with government or with markets for that matter. government is simply a contract between us. i’ll pitch in and you pitch in and so will others, and collectively we will do things that we could not have done alone. we can establish rules, and protect ourselves, and connect ourselves and more. the extent and content of this contract is negotiable and constantly changing. markets in and of themselves are a beautiful thing and are innovative and creative. its just that markets and corporations only have an obligation to the shareholders and are not moral or immoral, but rather amoral. there is some recourse with government and it can be held accountable to the general public. and although what UPS and Fed Ex do is impressive, only the USPS will hand deliver a letter for under 50 cents. libertarians never bring this into the equation. of course government is less efficient, it has other considerations aside from just the bottom line, which is important for the actual human beings that make up these systems. i think sometimes people forget that we are more than numbers or concepts.

the essence of the libertarian worldview is that man is an island. it doesnt take into account the helplessness of all humans at the beginning of our lives and generally at the ends too. as much as we fetishize the idea of the “self made, bootstraps man or woman,” in reality life on earth depends to a large degree on communality, brotherhood, and relationships. this is not only true socially, politically, and economically, but spiritually as well. which is why this idea is so potent. the undercurrent is the fundamental connectivity of the human race.

libertarianism many times assumes an arrogance and a “the world and government are holding me back” type attitude. its the man at the pinnacle of his powers and flush with hubris declaring that “these parasites and underlings are chains around my spirit.” most humans have learned the hard way that there is no doing this on our own, and the reason most victory speeches include thanks all around for aid is because very little is accomplished in this world in a vacuum by oneself. the john galt illusion tries to build a real person out of 2 dimensions, and 3rd rate philosophy and fails.

ultimately, libertarianism is not only more cruel and selfish than other ideologies, but it is less effective, which is the most important point. my neighbor doing well helps me do well. win-win is the real win. there is no win-lose. because we all lose together.

I’ve been wondering when I would hear someone point out the idiocy of comments like ‘Government can’t do a good job of running a bank’—- Worse than the job our ‘Masters of the Universe’ have done ???!!!

Shame on you, Bill Maher! Privatization has brought forth the kind of things good governments seldom experience.  Why, for heavens sake, just look at what privatization has done for the U.S. military:

No bid contracts with political connections.
Unenforceable audit findings with political links.
The “no specific recollection of an alleged conversation” syndrome.
A six-pack cola special for $45.00.
Contaminated water supplies for our troops.
Meal bloating three times higher than meals served.
Far-reaching networks of fraud, bribes and kickbacks.

hello. i favor mr. Maher’s entertainment; over most vehicles; for its usually munchy slant. government is good- too much government is very,very bad. 1 in 4 government employees could vanish to the same place all that bailout money went, and if their coworkers noticed: they would applaud. capitalism, mr. Maher, is dependent upon new and better. if you sell something to someone; they are no longer a prospective customer; unless you have something better. when you sell to everyone in the market; you need a new market- growth; expansion; the bbts (bigger and better things) economy of consumption that we have evolved from bartering, depends upon new customers. my objection is that capitalism does not belong in our politics- our rights and privileges are not commodities, and our justice system should not be bought. votes can(should)not be bought. freedoms will not be taken away (even from within our own government) without a fight from everyman, everywoman, and everychild of our great nation. we will fight this fight over and over, and we will be victorious, even if it requires a new government, as President Jefferson remarked…and right now i am heating a batch of tar, and putting in an order for brown feathers. if globalists believe they are going to so thoroughly corrupt our way of life: through demeaning socialism; and ridiculous economic lies; that they can install whatever they want to rule our people: be it a global currency; a global government; a global anyorder- they can have their talking head autograph my buttocks! toke that on the way to the bank.

Maher and Stewart are both pushing back on the Republican playbook of trashing government and government employees. Many government programs are run just as well as private enterprise and many are much better. Contrast the regular military versus the mercenary clowns from Blackwater, and the idiots from Halliburton who can’t even find qualified electricians to keep our soldiers from getting electrocuted. And government employees don’t get outlandish bonuses, and get to go to boondogles on the shareholder dollar. Republican’s are disgusting the way they trash American’s who just happen to be either government workers and/or union workers.