More government is bad for you

I am alarmed by the more government mindset of an apparent majority of citizens. The Preamble states one of the purposes of the federal government is to "promote the general welfare," not generally promote welfare.

The free market is responsible for creating the wealth which provides the things we want. Lately, the free market has not been working well, so the electorate is gullible to promises of "free" government services. If you are one of the 40 percent who don't pay income taxes, why wouldn't you vote for more government services at the expense of others?

What Alan Greenspan warned, "The income gap between the rich and the rest of the U.S. population has become so wide, and is growing so fast, that it might eventually threaten the stability of democratic capitalism itself," is happening before our eyes.

As the percentage of voters dependent upon government grows, only politicians promising more services will be electable. But, as attributed to Margaret Thatcher, "The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money."

In the free market, businesses are driven by competition to produce more efficiently, thus creating wealth and giving consumers what they want at the lowest price. Government has no competition. It mandates, confiscates, and may provide poor service in an inefficient manner.

Taxpayer money diverted from free market efficiency drains the economy.

Consumers of government services have no choice. As it takes over health care, government will own your very life.

I am not disparaging government employees and local government. Representative ratios are small, so local governments are more responsive to their constituents.

If you don't like your local government, you can move.

If you don't like the federal government, you have to leave the country. Expansion of federal government is most toxic to liberty.

Eric Carver

Palatine