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Government only collects too much money when it’s your money they’re collecting. Government only spends too much money when they’re spending it on behalf of someone or something that’s not important to you.
You can rest comfortably in the knowledge that when Diego’s house catches fire, his local government cannot possibly have spent too much on its Fire Department. When he is flooded out of his home, he will be only too grateful for the federal flood insurance program and FEMA. When Diego wants to drive across town in a timely manner, that bad ol’ government cannot have prepared and maintained those crosstown arteries too well. When he wishes to fly, suddenly he’s all for the governmental program of air traffic control and subsidies for his local airport which would not have been built without them.
Of course, none of this mattes to Terry Cook from Texas because he doesn’t live in Diego’s neighborhood. Libertarian that he is, Sr. Terry would prefer to see government confine itself to running prisons and let the needs of his neighbors across the land be dealt with on the basis of sound Darwinian principles.
Interesting, is it not, how these attitudes change once the shoe is slipped onto one’s own foot. Years ago, I worked for the welfare department in Howell, Michigan. A group of anti-tax nuts from Fowlerville marched on Lansing, the state capital, and refused to pay their taxes. They were immediately jailed. That afternoon, about sixteen families showed up in our office to apply for emergency general assistance (welfare), Food Stamps, and, eventually Aid to Dependent Children. And they got it because the community generally was resolved not to let innocent children go hungry.
Let’s see how long Diego lets his house burn and how long Terry lets his family suffer before they call 911 (also a government service).
This all reminds me of the lead-in to a Tom Lehr song from the 1960s in which he compares (something or another) to a Christian Scientist with appendicitis.
Dear Dependent David,
This is a love letter for lost souls. Governments lie, cheat and steal – from you and to you. Get over it, accept it and move on – you are delusional with your need to convince yourself you are not being had.
Here in CR I do fine with what very very (did I say “very”) little the government provides. Further more, do I care about our government trying to bring democracy to Iraq – Nope. But you seem happy to fund it. Do I care about strung out inner city youth dependent on entitlements – Naw. Do I depend on the Government for social security – it could all go belly up and it wouldn’t affect me one bit. Absolutely not. Lack of previous proper planning on the part of others – does not constitute an emergency on my part.
Now, do I help cloth the mentally handicap 38 year old who lives across the street from me – you bet. Do I pay for a heard of kids to go to the parque diversion – si senor. Am I a “Patronal” at my daughter public school – probably give the most ($350 a month donation). They call me don Diego and I have earned Tico respect. Do you have one Tico you can call a friend? I doubt it because you bleed gringo.
Point is you and your big government can have each other. You obviously believe in each other so it’s a perfect fit. Hope your Social Security check keeps comin in… and please go back to where big government is king, they need you there as it sounds like they have been nursing you for years. I am sure you know where all the government teats are So, have at em. Me, I’m already weaned. Don’t need Big Momy to suck off of or tell me what to do. Or Big brother to watch me.
Costa Rica is just fine the way it is, or are you one of those winey gringos constantly complaining how CR isn’t like back home? Why don’t you try driving that nice SUV you have parked all the time? Don’t want to get you self-definition dirty? You seem to define yourself by big government, so what are you doing here – complaining that the electricity goes out, complaining that the streets are not paved or espousing exactly what you want to change or fix. I think you need less time at the local expat hang out and more time with Ticos. You’d learn something about freedom from the group trap (Government) see: How I found Freedom in an Unfree World, Harry Browne) – required reading for cry baby expats. Do you wear Dockers and shave every day? Do your shirts have little crocodiles on them? Does your wife pick out you clothes for the day? Are you envious of the truly free?
Here is the deal. Take the money you pay in taxes and pay it forward. Give it directly to those in need. You remind me of the guy who goes to church and tosses a twenty in the basket and feels like he covered for the week. Personalize the gift, or is it easier for an institution to do it for you because you haven’t got time to be kind or because they have given you your paycheck your whole life. You remind me of an institution waiting to happen. You and I are exact opposites, I crave freedom and you want your illusions of protections provided by big Momy’s apron strings or Big brothers watchful eye. I am the antithesis of all that.
I yearn for the days when Costa Rica was all Maverick… Five more years and the cows (Davids of the world)will have it.
David, A great, eloquent, well thought out, and TRUE response. A little wake up call is all it takes for reality to set in. Diego is thought provoking, as he says he is, but he needs to think through his arguments.
As a person who has worked in the public sector, you are able to see what many of us cannot. Although government is not the answer to all our ills, it does provide necessary services for life and security. Sometimes, out of frustration, I find myself blaming the government for everything that goes wrong. And even though I consider myself in control and self sufficient, 911 would be the first number I would dial in an emergency.Diego, My monitor can’t take much more. In spite of your not being such a bad egg either, sometimes you go over the top. Don’t you think Ticos rely on their government for things like national healthcare, water, telephone, social security and electricity? All of these things are government run. How many will sit still if they are not given these services?
I am inspired by your generosity, but you can’t take care of an entire nation. And there aren’t enough of you to do it.We are all free, and we are all slaves at the same time.
Diego, I still don’t understand how you wrote that letter to Dependent David and still will vote for Hillary or Obama. Or will you? You false Maverick.
I think you need to take Diegos words less literally and more philosophically perhaps. I don’t think he expects the whole world to beat to his drum, on the contrary he needs cows because without them there could be no bulls; without darkness there could be no light kind of zen? But he is firmly a bull a maverick and has written off the US as a wasteland of herd mentality cows and I have to agree with him there. But as he would say I just don’t have the “cajones” to be a true bull I think I’m a more fly under the radar guy, more likely to escape to Tibet become a monk! Or to Costa Rica and live a simple peaceful life. Costa Rica is his mecca where men are men, woman are woman where TV commercials and rampant consumerism hasn’t destroyed the soul. A place where you can be, where you feel alive, get dirty, where you are always reminded that life isn’t always like the Brady Bunch. His words can be inflammatory to say the least, lol! He is a maverick got to give him that, the pale rider…I don’t know whether he pays his taxes, votes or calls the policia if his house is robbed and I don’t really care, the forum is far more interesting with him in it. I also like David and Alfred you seem like a real decent people. David you sound like a solid Midwesterner with good common sense, but you should be smart enough to know “the bull” ain’t buying your good conventional wisdom about government and how the world works, renegades wont be convinced by these arguments. It does take some big Cajones to stand up to the powers that be and not just play it safe to be a Malcom X etc…
Lotus, et al, I learned long ago how utterly dependent we all are. That includes you, me, the monks in Tibet (who all live in communities), and even Srs. Diego and Terry Cook from Texas. All the arrogance aside, none of us is prepared to deal with the world around us on the basis of our own knowledge and abilities — not in our youth, not in our adulthood, and certainly not in our old age. Like it or not, we all need the combined resources of the community to survive and to thrive. And we each have an implicit stake in each other’s survival. Only by propping you up do I earn the right to be propped up when it’s my turn.
Diego is welcome to bawl like a calf, but it doesn’t change the facts. When he needs anything the world has to offer, he, personally, is at the mercy of that world. Without a community to bring order to it, there would be only chaos. And bringing that order to the community is expressed, in the main, in government. Take away that order (read: “government”) and the community would disintegrate very quickly.
Think about it . . . Are you really capable of assessing the safety of the toothpaste you buy? Your children’s toys? Your medications? Your drinking water? Are you really prepared to fend off marauding(sp?) bands of burglars, muggers and thieves? Do you seriously think you (and commerce) can hope to move without roads and bridges?
In his arrogance, Diego may assert that he is able to do all those things and more, and then he will launch into an all-new off-subject polemic. That’s why I’ve quit reading his stuff.
Davidmurry…That is the most stupid thing I think I have read yet from you. I did not say nor implied anything of the sort. MY words were stop wasting OUR money attempting to BUY Democracy and Slay Dragons in the rest of the world…stop Buying the largest Embassys in Stupid places like Bagdad and SPEND IT HERE…yes on police, yes on fire yes on schools yes on medicine and medical studies to protect US Yes on FDIC to protect OUR money in OUR BAnks…
For you DAVID Ie simple concept for you to follow ¨¨Spend our Money on us not everone else¨! Yes our Roads, yes our bridges how many must I list…NOT WASTE money with corrupt government contracts (or private ones for that matter) but Let´s FIX US first
Terry Cook…How do you pick a winner out of a field of loser. Right now I am learning towards the actor guy who has not decalred.
Obviously because you replied to my post, you have not “Quit reading his stuff” (whaaaaaa) Who is bawling like a calf? So your personal honesty matches your philosophy – dependent on the situation.
At the risk of being called a “last word freak” I reply, at least you own up to your dependency. Perfect logic created by you perfect indoctrination. Have you ever heard of the previous investment trap? That’s when somebody has so much invested in to something (like an idea) that even when they know its lame they keep on with it. Figuring that they have invested so much time and effort in it they will ride it through. No matter how much it cost or how stupid it makes them look. Like a guy who pays $500 to attend a seminar, knows from the first day that it sucks, but attends the next three days anyways, losing his time along with his money. You are firmly caught in this trap. So why not return to the US where you have a ton of cowish security? Again why are you here? You have never answered that. I suspect by your rational it is to whole up with other Gringos and make your retirement benefits stretch. Cows…. They say it takes all kinds – It really doesn’t, they just happen to all be here. And now they have found my Costa Rica. Is that Cuba calling????? No? Oh it Santiago… be right there in about 3 to 4 years.
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