But his choice of Micah 6:8 and doing justice still raises some questions. The point we’ve come to is defining justice by majority will–so if the majority want a “windfall” profits tax on the the “big oil companies” and have a “tax refund” then that become justice and not theft. And trusting man to do the right thing may simply be a denial that someone else always knows better….

Example: Nobody wants to deal with the Social Security issue. It will take a national will to deal with the coming problem of the Boomers taking more and more out of SS than they put in. To solve it you either have to promise less or tax more or start eliminating recipients. But when a politician touches this ‘third rail’ of politics, he/she gets immediately hammered from all sides. So politicians avoid any serious discussion of the solution.

As for Denis’ comment, Democrats historically have not “trusted man” to do the right thing. Roosevelt didn’t trust charities to take care of needy people, so he created the SS, supposedly as a “safety net” under those who couldn’t set any aside for retirement or who didn’t get support from charities. Over time the Dems morphed it into an “entitlement” for millions who now include it in their basic plan for retirement, not as a safety net. Even the GOP has fallen into the trap with the recent pharmacy additions. All of this “entitlement” is creating a whole generation or more of people who are now totally dependent on the government.

Other examples from the Dems: Dems can’t trust the common man to make a good decision about buying the best car for their needs and take into that consideration gas mileage, so we’ll legislate mileage demands that will force car makers to make small, unsafe cars that nobody wants just so they can claim the average mileage of their manufactured fleet matches the CAFE requirements. Dems can’t trust the common man to make a good decision about how best to educate his family, so we’ll create an entire bureaucracy of thousands of people just to waste billions of tax dollars on so-called schools and deny anyone the privilege of making their own decision (no vouchers, no choices).

Reagan had it right–smaller government intrusion into our life. Less regulation. Let capitalism work. Trust Americans to know the “right things to do,” but also be honest with the consequences if they don’t do those right things. Buy gas-guzzlers, pay more for gas as it gets in short supply. Pick the wrong school, your kids fail. Fail to plan for retirement, live in poverty. Simple to understand.

Pop, are leaders today unable to speak the truth or did Reagan use a poor choice of words to describe limited government?

Denis, are you saying “informed patriots” don’t trust government?

And if people aren’t good, does that mean that liberty is not good?

For 2008, just say “NObama.”