I was having a wonderful tete-a-tete with Doomer this morning and even Q chimed in.

I was thinking of the repubs and govment and all that crap.  Today the repubs will speak of the Demcrat party.  They just seem to love creating their own vocabulary. This govment crap started with Strom Thurmond and George Wallace and then Ronnie picked it up and it never really went away.

Our enemy the govment.  That was the message. Of course, the govment stabilized the damn banks and the money and the insurance industry. It provided for a trillion miles of concrete and coordinated the take offs and landings of the single greatest civilian airline infrastructure  in history. It entered into wars and paid off capitalists for arms and such with trillions of dollars. Govment has been and always will be the repubs' best friend and supporter. If you do not believe this, just ask Senator Shelby.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/02/report-shelby-blocks-all-obama-nominations-in-the-senate-over-al-earmarks.php

Oh in the old days everybody fended for themselves. Americans knew that they could only make it on their own; without any help from govment.

What are the functions of government, anyway? Not the branches of government. What are the actual functions of government?

If people expected nothing from their govments, well...they would become more resourceful in pursuing their own endeavors and seeking their own sustenance.

I would put aside considerations of infra structure for a second and take a look at this philosophy from another angle. A logic supposed invented by Adam Smith, Ayn Rand and Amy Clituris.

But we must consider cultural aspects to all of this. We must get into the minds of the 19th century Americans; before we can properly understand the functions of government in their proper contexts.

I already bored everyone here with the concepts of the Patricians and the Plebians all based upon money which we understand, but also based upon the concepts of blood and land.

Because of space provided, and Doomer among others have pointed out that I take up a lot of space, I am limited in discussing the single greatest give-away in U.S. History.

First I must acknowledge that we 'stole' all of the land we call the United States in the first place. We kept making 'deals' with the Native Americans and as our numbers grew along with our ability to manufacture arms and induct soldiers...we broke those deals for our own ends. Cultural Shock is one term relevant here. Genocide is another term applicable in this context. But as we discuss the issue of Government I must 'put those matters aside for the sake of argument.' Wonderful, kind of heart warming phrase, is it not?

Moving on (another wonderful phrase), one cannot own land unless the 'title' to the land is recorded and the recordings are recognized. Think about it.  I owned five or six houses in my wasted life and the only reason I could claim ownership was because of government.

Well officer, these three repubs just moved into my house and I want them out. That is all fine and good, but under what theory do I get them out? Well, I paid money and signed mortgage papers and a deed was executed and filed with the County Recorder. There was a legal description recited in that deed and ---this is even before GPS---one could actually located exactly, to the inch, where my land began and my next door neighbor's ended. Thomas Jefferson was really interested in this subject and the manner in which we describe a parcel of land was initiated into law by him...at least outside of the thirteen original colonies.

In most countries around the world, and especially the Western World, owning land meant something. In many states one could not vote unless he owned land. George Washington, long before his reign as President, was a surveyor. He received monies from capitalists to properly enable the rich to acquire land. Coincidently, even though he had married the richest widow in the New World, he was the single wealthiest landowner in America by the time he took office. In fact, old George was the richest man in America, period.

People seem to eschew Wiki of late, but I get away with citing it all the time:

The Homestead Act was one of several United States Federal laws that gave an applicant freehold title up to 160 acres (1/4 section) of undeveloped land outside of the original 13 colonies. The new law required three steps: file an application, improve the land, and file for deed of title. Anyone who had never taken up arms against the U.S. Government, including freed slaves, could file an application and improvements to a local land office.

The original act was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on May 20, 1862.

People, nobodies, people without the proper blood, people without money....these people were given the opportunity to buy land by just kind of moving in. If you filed a few forms, after a period of time elapse, these NOBODIES OWNED THEIR OWN PARCEL OF LAND. 

You think the abolishment of slavery was a big thing. Europe had nothing analogous to this. This was communism folks. Plain and simple. This was a government grant that the like of which the  world had NEVER SEEN.

The Homestead Act of 1862 was passed by the U.S. Congress. It provided for the transfer of 160 acres (65 hectares) of unoccupied public land to each homesteader on payment of a nominal fee after five years of residence; land could also be acquired after six months of residence at $1.25 an acre. The government had previously sold land to settlers in the West for revenue purposes. As the West became politically stronger, however, pressure was increased upon Congress to guarantee free land to settlers. Several bills providing for free distribution of land were defeated in Congress; in 1860 a bill was passed in Congress but was vetoed by President Buchanan. With the ascendancy of the Republican party (which had committed itself to homestead legislation) and with the secession of the South (which had opposed free distribution of land), the Homestead Act, sponsored by Galusha A. Grow, became law. In 1976 it expired in all the states but Alaska, where it ended in 1986.  http://www.nathankramer.com/settle/article/homestead.htm

Just take a look at the link. Knock your socks off. You did not need a pedigree. You did not need estate papers. You did not need special consideration. You did not have to file income tax forms. You did not have to prove your worth. You did not need W-2s or W-4s or anything like that.

Was there fraud? Yes, of course there was fraud. You wish to mix free land with people you will find fraud. Just like when you mix tax money with defense contractors.

We are always taught that the only thing the government would ever give an American Citizen was a slice of cheese in the Jackson White House.  This is where the idiom came from, you remember those great words of Jackson:

WHO CUT THE CHEESE?

Oh and many years prior to the big slices of cheese there was this act:

The Land Act of 1804 was U.S. legislation that refined provisions for the purchase of U.S. public land north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi river. Titled An Act making provision for the disposal of the public lands in the Indiana territory, and for other purposes, the act was passed by Congress on March 26, 1804.[1]

The Land Act of 1804 superseded the Harrison Land Act of 1800, introduced by William Henry Harrison, then the congressional delegate representing the Northwest Territory. The Harrison Land Act reduced the minimum amount of land that could be purchased from 640 acres (2.6 km2) to 320 acres (1.3 km2) and introduced a credit feature by which one-fourth of the purchase price was required at the time of purchase and the balance was payable in annual installments over four years. The minimum price of $2.00 an acre was unchanged from the Land Act of 1796, in which the price was doubled from that set by the Land Ordinance of 1785.  wiki

So the Government was the mortgage company. Hahahaha

I have not even touched upon the subject of pensions yet. And we have not gotten to issues of Social Security or the GI Bills.

The government has been there to help Americans since it was established.

Teddy Roosevelt and his cousin simply moved the bar up.

That's all.