Service Monopoly
Government is a service monopoly, hired by the
legislatures to provide basic services like water supply reservoirs, maintenance
and construction of roads and bridges, sewers and water treatment. In addition, they provide courts, police,
jails, fire and ambulance services. They
also provide laws and ordinances.
They should not be allowed to provide what could be provided
by private enterprise like education, healthcare, recreation, arts, theater,
charity, philanthropy, land investing, commercial development, tourism or
marketing. If elected officials insist on showing up for photo ops for ribbon
cutting ceremonies, it’s only fair that they show up and present dead flowers
to those who are going out of business.
Union Abuse
Unions are pervasive in government employment. Unions also are allowed to back candidates
who pass laws and ordinances. This has resulted in unions owning elected
officials, whose job it is to extract maximum tax revenue to feed government
employees. There are no checks and
balances in place to correct this.
Elected officials do not act in behalf of regular taxpayers; they act in
behalf of their campaign contributors. Unions
were rumored to have formed to protect workers from abusive “robber
barons”. Who were the “robber barons”
government employees needed protection from ?
Utility Abuse
Utilities provide clean water distribution, electricity,
natural gas, phone service and cable service. Public utilities all employ union
workers. Again, who are the “robber
barons” we are protecting them from ?
Pension Abuse
Government and utility employees all have Pension Plans
for their employees. Teachers who have
come to hate their jobs are given the incentive to stay because of their
excessively rich pension plans. Defined
Benefit Pension Plans should be terminated and replaced with Age Weighted Defined
Contribution Plans, so that “near retirees” are not left in a lurch. At the same time, a separate new Defined
Contribution Plan should be established and participants encouraged to have
their Pension Termination checks deposited to it. Pension Plans have resulted in municipal
bankruptcies that leave retirees with no retirement income. Pension Funds are invested in the stock
market and other investments and taxpayers are on the hook for losses when the
value of these investments decline. The
fact that government and union employees own the elected officials, who are
unable or unwilling to not give away the store has resulted in the need to
terminate all Pension Plans.
Campaign Finance Reform
Unless campaign contributions are restricted to
registered voters who will have the candidate on their ballot, elected
officials will never represent the voters.
Excuses that allow for our legislatures to be purchased by the highest
bidder have included claims that special interests are entitled to their
political voice. I suggest they run their own ads, put up their own websites
and make their own case. No unions, businesses, power groups or out-of-towners
have any right to purchase our elected representatives or any candidates.
Bad bills are passed
Legislatures have established their own rules. These rules allow legislators to pass bad
laws. Their favorite methods include
killing good laws in committee and passing Omnibus spending bills that allow
bad bills to be incorporated. New
Legislators face pressure from the old guard to go along with “horse trading”
as a way to get their bills passed. They
are given the opportunity to vote for a bills in exchange for getting support
on their own bills. Principled
legislators are isolated and discriminated against by the “gang”.
Bad Laws are Never Repealed
The Community Reinvestment Act 1993 required mortgage
lenders to approve mortgages for unqualified borrowers and together with HUD
rules caused the 2008 Meltdown.
Communist lawyers sewed lenders and banks settled these lawsuits by
paying settlements and abandoning their lending standards. These laws have not been repealed. The 2008 Meltdown did give lenders permission
to restore their lending standards, but banks are still subject to this abuse.
Municipal Abuse
Communitarian Laws violate Private Property Rights
The U.S. Constitution restricts governments’ powers to
own property and requires “fair market value” be paid for any land government
may need to build roads or conduct business.
Over the decades, laws and ordinances have been passed that allow
private property abuse. I am sure it
began with wrongheaded citizens demanding that their elected officials do
something about abandoned buildings and it spread to land seizures for whims
and kick-backs.
These laws need to be reviewed and amended to strengthen
property rights for owners.
Easements may have started innocently, to give occasional
access for utilities to service their equipment, but the actual land owners are
not allowed to build anything on them.
That introduced the notion that property owners would suffer limited use
of land they own and pay taxes on.
Permits, fees and fines have become a source of municipal
abuse due to absurd federal regulations like land disturbance codes and unnecessary
permit and inspection requirements like appliance and water heater replacements.
Not long ago, the only thing requiring a permit was a building addition or
load-bearing wall removal requiring load calculations. Now It includes replacing driveways, roofs
and build-in appliances and HVAC units.
These never required permits before.
Police are allowed to seize private property without a
warrant if they “believe” it could be associated with a crime and never return
it. This includes cash, boats, cars,
homes and belongings. The Police
department sells the property and keeps the proceeds.
Municipalities are allowed to seize private homes if they
own any property taxes. This is often
done quickly, without notice and could be done due to an error. Municipalities can condemn property for any
reason or no reason. Municipal court
fines have become a major city revenue source.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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