Showing How Government Fails

[Geee]

American Thinker:

The debacle of ObamaCare may do what conservatives have been trying to do for a long time: show ordinary Americans the depth of government incompetence. Businesses have grasped since FDR the sting of the quip "I'm from the government -- I'm here to help you." The hyper-regulation by the federal government of nearly every aspect of commerce and industry through an ever-growing leviathan of laws, regulations, judicial decisions, and executive actions has stunted and even crippled huge swaths of private enterprise in America. Almost any small business can recount at least one horror story that cost our nation productive activity, reduced meaningful employment, and closed off areas of potential growth in our economy.

Many Americans, however, have generally been shown only the sunny side of the federal government. Those who do not run or manage businesses, who do not pay federal taxes, and who not have to deal with the profound inanity of government bureaucrats may live their lives seeing only "goodies" like Social Security, welfare-state entitlements, and countless "feel good" advocacy programs notionally on their behalf.

The divide between the small business owner crushed by compliance with irrational and often incomprehensible tax codes and the employees of this small business is gaping. The employee may not make enough to have to file a tax return, and if he does, that return may be fairly simple and may produce, because federal withholding masks the true costs of federal taxation, a refund to the filer. The union worker may see federal labor regulations as creating "protections" which apparently costs the worker nothing, because apparently the cost is wholly assumed by the employer.