sci.geo.meteorology, alt.energy.renewable, alt.politics.bush,
alt.conspiracy

On Nov 19, 10:48 pm, "nbzoo" wrote:

"john fernbach" wrote in message

...

That's the whole purpose of having a government in the first place,
isn't it?

To do nothing much in times of national need?


Thankfully doing nothing in times of mass hysteria over alleged global
warming.

Bozo, I clearly disagree with you over whether trying to avert AGW
reflects "mass hysteria." I think you're lying like hell about that.
But I really was trying to make a bigger point regarding government
and its role.

Peter Franks, judging from his recent post, seems to think that the
first task of government, when confronted with a national emergency
(say, the current meltdown of the financial markets, for example),
should be to reform itself -- to make sure that the government itself
is clean & pure, and never mind about the national emergency.

I'd like to submit, as respectfully as I can, that this is basically a
stupid proposition. Regardless of how one feels about AGW and the
obscenely enormous CO2 emissions of the fossil fuel industries.

The preamble to the U.S. Constitution states that among the chief
purposes of government is preserving and advancing the "general
welfare." It doesn't state that one of the main purposes of
government is the perfection of its own internal purity.

Of course the Free Market fundamentalists disagree, since y'all seem
to look on the "Invisible Hand of the Market" as being close to the
Will of God. [If you're a Christian, Jew or Muslim, I think this free
market worship should count as a kind of "idolatry" -- but hey, who's
counting?]

But most people who pay lots of taxes to the government, although we
grumble about, expect it to do something positive with our damned
money. Right now, a government fix for what ails the financial
markets and the larger economy would be a treat.

For the government to engage in agonies of self-criticism and self-
perfection in order to turn itself into the political equivalent of a
jeweled Russian Easter Egg, a nearly flawless object of surpassing
esthetic appeal, seems pretty much irrelevant.