Whenever someone proposes that we need more intervention from the federal government, I always go to the Constitution and check Article I, Section VIII.
This is because I’m old fashioned and I actually think the Founding Fathers weren’t joking when they granted only a few enumerated powers to the federal government.
And when I check that list, I don’t see anything about steroid investigations, housing, or disaster relief. Nor do I see anything about childhood obesity.
Which is what makes this cartoon from Ken Catalino amusing. At least in a morbid way.
I would have labeled the guy “Washington” instead of “Congress,” but that’s nitpicking. The point I’m trying to make is that we have a bloated federal government that is sapping the economy’s vitality and undermining social capital.
We should be trying to rein in that behemoth, not allowing it to get involved in other areas of life.
This doesn’t mean we don’t have a problem with overweight children. It simply means that it’s absurd to think the answer will come from a bunch of politicians and bureaucrats in Washington.
P.S. I very much enjoy cartoon that portray Washington as a flat slob. For other examples, see here, here,here, here, here and here.
P.P.S. Here’s another Ken Catalino cartoon that I like, even though it perpetuates an inaccurate portrayal of Robin Hood as a redistributionist.
Perhaps you are implying this, Dan, but I think it important to say it over and over again, out loud, so that people will understand. It is not just that the elitist polices of the politicians, bureaucrats, and crony capitalists sap economic vitality; it is that they enact these policies for their own self-interest. Like all human beings, elite politicians and bureaucrats engage in reciprocal altruism, cooperating with those who can return the favors and benefits that the politicians provide them. And the crony capitalists befriend and support the elite politicians for the same self-interested reason.
So the sap the economic vitality of the country, hurting the average person and the poor person, for their own selfish interests, as evolution has trained them to do.
But we need to keep repeating it to counter the progressives’ argument that they care about the poor and the middle class. Perhaps they do, in some way, but like all human beings for the past 1.8 million years, they are primarily concerned with their own genetic lineage, and people who vote for big-government politicians are voting against their own self interest..
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