Thursday, August 20, 2009

Eight Things the US Government Does Well

After hearing several weeks of complaints that the government can't do anything well as an excuse for rejecting the public health care option, I started thinking about how many thing the government does well. This list was generated in about 5 minutes, with more time, it would be much longer.

So, in no particular order:

1. Medicare: The government does a good job of providing health care to seniors. If they can afford a supplement, it it about as good as you can get. I know this from the experience of my parents.
2. The Veterans Administration: This organization provided many services to Veterans, including free medical care.
3. The Armed Services: I feel safe at night--and during the day. This department does a good job.
4. Higher Education: This is service provided by the States. Excellent education is provided to just about anyone who wants to take advantage of it for a very reasonable cost.
4. The National Parks System: Even though budgets have been slashed, The National Parks, Historical Sites and Museums provide some of the best value for the vacation dollar. Beautiful scenery, reasonable admission fees, and excellent background information is provided for anyone who wants it. I've been to many of these places in many states. I've never been disappointed.
5. The Interstate Highway System: Can you imagine driving coast to coast on two lane highways? I remember driving from Illinois to the east coast before most of the interstate highway system was built. It was all two lane highways, slow and dangerous. Today you can drive from just about any city to another quickly--and be able to stop at rest areas too.
6. The Federal and State Court System: On every level, people get their day in court. They may not like the outcome, but they have the opportunity to have their issues heard.
7. The US Treasury: This department prints the money and casts the coins. Nobody anywhere in the world questions the value of our currency.
8. The Internal Revenue Service: Most of us despise this organization, but no one can dispute the fact that they get their money from most of us very efficiently.

So just start thinking--do you really believe that your government is so incompetent that it can't provide services to its citizens for a reasonable cost?

1 Comments:

Anonymous Rev. E.M. Camarena, PhD said...

Very nice posting. I usually call out the crowd that attacks the government as unpatriotic. That really gets them.
As a resident of NYC, here's something else the government does damn well: clean drinking water. Municipal water systems are checked up to 400 times a month for cleanliness. When was the last typhus outbreak? See?
Bottled water on the other hand is quite polluted - with only one person at the FDA in charge of it. Private Enterprise at its best, poisoning us while spending millions on ads to make us think that are giving us better water than the tap delivers.

8:16 AM  

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