Conservatives wanted. Apply within.

[Pio1980]

Originally Posted by mpholland

This is what happens when you push back anymore...

http://www.businessinsider.com/ups-f...ployees-2014-4

I pretty much knew what that link was before clicking it, a great example of why unionization occurs.
"Right-to-work" is just the right to take it up the ass from your employer without defense or recourse, take-it-or-leave-it.

[icenine]

I think we should embrace government and let it be the impetus behind a better society.
Look at the traditional Western European countries that we saved with the Marshal Plan as example. Britain, France, England, etc after 1945

embraced government jobs and the civil service...never put a stigma on it.
embraced national health for their citizens
and some like Germany still have a manufacturing base

we should be moving toward Western Europe in our outlook not stigmatizing "Europeaness" if there is such a word.

places like Germany, Norway and Sweden are probably much better places to live than some places here

[merrylander]

I would be curious to know what the ratio of public servants to population is now compared to other previous decades.

[Pio1980]

Originally Posted by icenine

I think we should embrace government and let it be the impetus behind a better society.
Look at the traditional Western European countries that we saved with the Marshal Plan as example. Britain, France, England, etc after 1945

embraced government jobs and the civil service...never put a stigma on it.
embraced national health for their citizens
and some like Germany still have a manufacturing base

we should be moving toward Western Europe in our outlook not stigmatizing "Europeaness" if there is such a word.

places like Germany, Norway and Sweden are probably much better places to live than some places here

Or as I ask my Libertarian/ anti-tax buds, "Would you rather live in Central America or Scandinavia?" I have no problem with paying for a socially advanced country that can suppress graft and corruption while delivering on the promise of good governance and the opportunity for good living for all. Obviously this isn't that here.
And before some smart-ass asks me why I don't move there, I covered that in another post. Briefly, most of my relatives live here and I've spent most of my life here, I speak the dominant language like a native and have served and retired from it's armed forces, most of the country and people themselves are pretty nice in spite of their general gullibility and prejudices. It hasn't gotten intolerable yet, unlike other places with worse graft/corruption and even poorer governance. I'm too old to uproot and start over, and nobody is going to take on my pack of rescue dogs.

[Ike Bana]

As far as the oft stated typical conservative desire for "smaller government" goes...the GOP's insistence that it supports smaller government is a sick joke. Even the a conservative messiah like Reagan broke all records for the size of gub'mint during his time as boss.

And in fact, depending upon the times, smaller government is the last thing one should want. In our recent experience since the fall of 2008 it seems crystal clear to me that probably twice the level of government involvement, spending and stimulus would have served the country considerably better than the half-assed gestures provided by the Obama administration. And as Krugman has stated many times...the recent hostility toward stimulus spending and persistent droning about "debt" from all corners of the political spectrum does not bode well for more government economic involvement which would still be beneficial right now, and which might be even more necessary in the future.