furloughfuntime

Would you really prefer for the military to be privatized? Really?

This Reagan era myth that government is inherently incompetent is pretty stale at this point. The US government won WW2 and went to the moon. Do you think the private sector would've done a better job? There are governments across the world that have demonstrated competency in a wide variety of areas. This knee jerk reaction of "government=bad" is pretty silly and doesn't make you seem more credible.

Reread what your post says. You didn't make any argument, but instead regurgitated a tired old talking point that "government=bad." You didn't make the case why government is bad or why it is inherently incapable of carrying out basic functions(even though governments across the world are effectively managing healthcare, education, and elections). If anyone is brainwashed, it's you.

SonicFlyer

No actually I am not an anarchist. But every single major military operation since WWII has been a disaster.

It is more true now than ever.


And it couldn't do either again tomorrow if it had to.

A while back the NASA Administrator was asked by Congress how long it would take to go back to the moon and he responded "about 12 years" .... It only took 10 years from JFK to get onto the moon the first time starting from scratch. When asked why it would take longer this time the Administrator simply responded "bureaucratic red tape"

Any time the government does anything it is trampling someone's rights. Any time it spends money it is taken wealth stolen from someone else. Government's only job is to provide justice, protect individual rights, and uphold contracts. And it doesn't do that very well. Any time it tries to do more than the bare minimum, it is an epic failure.

Government has no competition and thus no feedback mechanism. Why should I be forced to pay into a failed retirement system? Why should I be forced to pay for someone else's education or healthcare? That isn't freedom, it is tyranny and theft.

rickair7777

Government is inherently corrupt and inefficient. It's a monopoly and in many cases multiple layers of monopoly all getting paid to to the same thing redundantly. It's also an obviously necessary evil for some things.

Some functions should never be privatized or outsourced... defense, law enforcement, judicial, nuclear regulatory functions are some examples.

But the rest of it should be minimized, aggressively.

JamesNoBrakes

How many astronauts died in that pursuit?

The Soviets weren't even going to make it to the moon, they abandoned due to sunk cost in a failed project that didn't work well enough. Our guys were so focused though that huge missteps were taken that sacrificed safety. This wasn't one or two things either. The culture back then was fairly toxic and there's lots of literature and documentaries on this. They "got the job done", but today's NASA has had to learn the corporate culture lesson time and time again and are a better organization because of it. That doesn't mean there's no risk and that they are going to just "play it safe" and be incapable of doing great things. Not to discount the achievement of going to the moon at all either, but knowing what we do now, designing more comprehensive safety mechanisms and systems, using what we've learned, yes it'll take longer. There was a lot of "we hope this will work" in that program.

JamesNoBrakes

So I assume you don't have health insurance and you just pay out of pocket?

rickair7777

That's not true. We actually prevailed spectacularly in almost every single conflict, with 'Nam being the low point.

The problems have all had to do with the government's intentions and plans for AFTER the military part was done.

In 'Nam the military was artificially de-rated by political considerations (and also legit concerns about escalating the cold war).

Seneca Pilot

There is a large and growing movement of doctors who do not take insurance and customers who shop for care and the cost is far less than through the insurance model. Most of us carry some type of catastrophic coverage in case of a major illness. Very much cheaper.

There are also shared cost programs through religious organizations that have shaved billions in cost through care shopping. Insurance has raised costs, not lowered them. When you think a check up is free you don't notice that it is billed out at 250.00 when a normal cost would be 50.00.

JamesNoBrakes

So basically you are telling me that you want to pay into a program and have the majority of the cost offset by other people paying in?

SonicFlyer

The difference being is that it is voluntary and people can make choices. This also keeps downward pressure on prices and pushes efficiency. Compare that to the politicians of today who have no consequence to making social security disappear in 30 years.


Also I know a lot of wealthy individuals who do not have health insurance and yes do in fact pay out of pocket.

SonicFlyer

I disagree.

Korean War was a net loss. Nothing gained, unconstitutional, and in fact made the situation worse.

Vietnam, well... nothing needs to be said about that.

Cuba? HA!

Afghanistan I led to Afghanistan II

Libya?

Gulf War I? II?

Somalia? Black Hawk Down anyone?

Bosnia, Kosovo? LOL


Absolutely none of these can be called a success, and the US government's involvement were all illegal (show me a declaration of war for any of them)


The US military is not supposed to be a tool for special interests to get rich off of or shape the geopolitical stage. It is supposed to 1) protect our shipping lanes and 2) defend our homeland. That's it. In fact the Constitution even prohibits a standing Army in times of peace. The Swiss model is the best.