The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Is The Government My Shepherd?

Posted on | August 18, 2010 | 8 Comments

by Smitty

Via Insty, John Samples at Cato says “They Should Earn Our Trust“.

He concludes that these signs of distrust “point toward a widely shared conviction that the country’s public and private leadership is protecting its own interest at the expense of average (and even comfortable) Americans.”

Via HotAir Gene Healy at the Examiner starts off by noting:

By 2012, our national debt will be larger than the entire U.S. economy, according to the International Monetary Fund. So what’s on the front burner in Washington these days? Zoning issues in lower Manhattan!

Ace of Spades develops the theory that Blagojevich went on TV to establish some humanity in advance of his trial, so that a TV-junky jurist might be persuaded by the charm and the hair to hang the trial.

Faith in government is wholly misplaced. It is never more than a necessary evil. As there seem to be some fans of my arguably tasteless, cynical re-writes of Biblical passages, here is a shamelessly cooked reading of the 23rd Psalm:

  1. The GOVERNMENT is my shepherd; I shall not want capitalism.
  2. It maketh me to lie down in green, environmentally cleansed, carbon-managed pastures: it leadeth me beside the still, occasionally oil-slicked waters.
  3. It restoreth my propaganda: it leadeth me in the paths of collectivism for its brand’s sake.
  4. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of liberty, I will fear no outbreak of capitalism: for thy propaganda art be with me; thy rod and thy staff and their reams of legislation, they comfort, discipline, and otherwise satisfy me.
  5. Thou preparest a cheese table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.  Thou swappest it with a smaller vessel occasionally, as supplies dwindle, so that the ‘runneth over’ fiction be maintained for all my thirsty days.
  6. Surely managed goodness and something which objectively sucks, but has been conveniently re-labeled mercy shall follow me all the days of my carefully managed life: and I will dwell in the house of the GOVERNMENT for ever, for reasonably ‘fair’ values of ‘ever’, as determined by faceless bureaucrats armed with a spreadsheet in some posh office.

Walking back from this cynical outburst, you might enjoy Dr. Zero’s Churchill-esque palate cleanser:

We don’t have “unrealistic” expectations about “oversold” government programs. We don’t have any more expectations about Big Government at all. That’s why we’re going to tear it down, and reclaim what it has taken from us. We aren’t expecting the government to work miracles with our tax dollars. We expect it to return them. We’ll handle the miracles.

RTWT.

Category: Uncategorized

Comments

8 Responses to “Is The Government My Shepherd?”

  1. two kgs of pigsnout
    August 18th, 2010 @ 9:08 am

    just a test comment

  2. two kgs of pigsnout
    August 18th, 2010 @ 1:08 pm

    just a test comment

  3. Robert Stacy McCain
    August 18th, 2010 @ 1:37 pm

    I once heard a guest minister in a Presbyterian church deliver a sermon that mused about space aliens, based on this verse:

    John 10:16 (New King James Version)

    And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.

    After church, the members were kind of shaking their heads. One, finding that I was a visitor, apologized for the sermon.

    Actually, I had found it rather interesting.
    🙂 Hey,
    anything’s possible?

  4. Robert Stacy McCain
    August 18th, 2010 @ 9:37 am

    I once heard a guest minister in a Presbyterian church deliver a sermon that mused about space aliens, based on this verse:

    John 10:16 (New King James Version)

    And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.

    After church, the members were kind of shaking their heads. One, finding that I was a visitor, apologized for the sermon.

    Actually, I had found it rather interesting.
    🙂 Hey,
    anything’s possible?

  5. smitty
    August 18th, 2010 @ 1:58 pm

    @two kgs of pigsnout, aka gg:
    Thread jacking is uncool.

  6. smitty
    August 18th, 2010 @ 9:58 am

    @two kgs of pigsnout, aka gg:
    Thread jacking is uncool.

  7. Randy Rager
    August 18th, 2010 @ 3:56 pm

    Government exists to serve us, not service us. The Left would do well to learn the difference.

  8. Randy Rager
    August 18th, 2010 @ 11:56 am

    Government exists to serve us, not service us. The Left would do well to learn the difference.