Representative Government would be okay......

......if it weren't for the representatives. I happen to believe that the best form of government would be a benevolent dictator. Unfortunately history has shown us time and time again that absolute power corrupts absolutely. Democracy is probably the next best thing but it is terribly inefficient, primarily because it calls for the attempt to satisfy the needs/wants of conservatives, liberals, seniors, generation Xs, the affluent Knob Hill group, the sandhillers, the blue collar, the white collar, the homeless and on and on. It's really a hopeless task, at best ending up with everybody being partially satisfied and partially dissatisfied. And it's made worse when elected officials, from the President down to an alderman lose sight of the purpose of their positions.

In my view the purpose of government is straight-forward. To protect the population against external and internal enemies, and to insure the right to pursue success and happiness as defined by the individual within the bounds of societies well being. It is not the job of government to provide success and happiness...to relieve the population of their responsibility to provide for themselves. And yet in my opinion that is exactly what Biden's budget in part is seeking to do. And why I'm glad that Senator Joe Manchin has dug in his heals. I don't think that he's grandstanding or playing to his constituents. I believe that he sincerely has what he believes to be the best interests of the people and the Constitution in mind by taking the stance he has taken. 

An article I read this morning prompted this post. As I see it this isn't an article about serving the people. It's an article about people wanting to keep or win jobs in Washington. It's about the Democrats worrying about their image because of the infighting regarding Biden's budget. I think that the two paragraphs excerpted below illustrate both the socialist agenda and the focus on personal political ambition.

"I'm obviously upset -- pissed off about what happened," said Rep. Tom Malinowski, a Democrat who represents a New Jersey swing district. "We certainly are not going to win an election spending the next year bemoaning the fact that Joe Manchin didn't do Build Back Better in December. We win by sprinting out of the starting gate in January."

"I think it's imperative that Democrats pass a measure to support children and families and the economic wellbeing of the American middle class and to take steps to address climate change," said Rep. Dean Phillips, a Minnesota Democrat. "If we do nothing, it would be a terrible reflection on Democrats."

So Tom Malinowski is pissed off. Good. Maybe when he gets un-pissed off he'll look at Manchin's budget objections and see them objectively for what they are about...more steps along the path to socialism.