What's the most important role of fed. gov't?

[georgiaboy]

I regularly hear politicians, media-types, and general people say that the biggest job for the federal government is to keep us Americans safe from harm.

And from there flows the beginning of a gusher of corollaries of what the federal government needs to 'do' for us all.

Really? What a crazy freakin' soundbyte that is.

And here I thought the primary role of the federal government was to ensure individual rights and freedoms were protected from tyrannical authorities.

Upside-down.

[catdd]

"What's the most important role of fed. gov.?"

To stay out of our lives as much as possible.

[erowe1]

I regularly hear politicians, media-types, and general people say that the biggest job for the federal government is to keep us Americans safe from harm.

And from there flows the beginning of a gusher of corollaries of what the federal government needs to 'do' for us all.

Really? What a crazy freakin' soundbyte that is.

And here I thought the primary role of the federal government was to ensure individual rights and freedoms were protected from tyrannical authorities.

Upside-down.

Unfortunately, allowing any role at all seems to result in a flood of corollaries. Saying the government is there to protect our freedoms inevitably results in freedom-destroying programs being devised on the pretense of keeping people "free from fear" and "free from want," etc.

[moostraks]

self-destruction...

[Live_Free_Or_Die]

nt

[brandon]

Stoppin teh gays from gettin married

[t0rnado]

Enslavement.

[Icymudpuppy]

Communication with extraterrestrials?

[RyanRSheets]

makin sure cancer patients cant get no weed

[catdd]

Making sure Ron Paul never becomes POTUS?

[bkreigh]

stirring up a shit storm

[anaconda]

Despite the fact that Presidents, especially the recent Bush, keep saying that their "job is to keep the American People safe" it is a bald faced lie and incorrect. The job of the President is to uphold and defend the Constituion. So, to me, a very Constitutional thing for a President to do would be to review the questionable ratification of the 16th Amendment, to make sure that the Constitution has not been violated. Most Federal jobs, including the President's, might be be pretty low profile and uneventful in a Constitutionally restrained government. Not very many people would probably want the jobs under these circumstances. We all know about Ben Franklin's comment regarding sacrificing liberty for safety. This is not the ethos of hardy Americans.

[PatriotOne]

Sheep shearing.

[anaconda]

Stealing the fruits of the citizen's labor for imperial corporate market plundering.

[anaconda]

Sheep shearing.

That is indeed funny:D

[Isaac Bickerstaff]

Placeholder.

Plug the vacuum of power with inaction so that tyrants and a-holes don't get in there.