The Slow Inevitable Death of the Individual

I was raised in a fairly mundane household without too much dysfunctional drama. In other words, a bubble. When you grow up like I did you just naively assume people are all like you. Now that I have more hair growing out of my ears and nose I realize that humans are highly programmable and that we aren't all just born with a base of moral code that helps us understand the differences between right and wrong. How could 909 people in Jonestown be convinced of the insane ideas James Jones espoused and, ultimately, to commit mass suicide? How could Manson convince his followers to brutally and senselessly murder the way that they did? How could millions of Germans be convinced that The Final Solution was the path to paradise? How do so many millions Muslims believe in such a barbaric, backwards belief system?

I think that people who grew up in a bubble like I did sometimes take for granted that being an individual that is free to do, think and say as they please is something that should be a human's natural state. But, that is what we were programmed to understand and believe. As Libertarians believe in individuality others just as strongly believe in collectivism. They have been so successfully inculcated in Socialism that the idea of being an individual is not just foreign to them it is terrifying and something to be extinguished.

And, of course, they breed. I see it all of the time. Liberal, group thinkers teaching their offspring not just that that collectivism is good, but that individualism is dangerous, bigoted and evil. All the while they completely ignore the tremendous social dysfunction created by their dogma setting their offspring up for countless disappointments and setting the culture up for disintegration.

Most of us don't know it, or if we do we don't take it as seriously as we should, but there is a real battle being fought right now between good and evil and, in my opinion, evil is way ahead. Evil has control of our educational system at all levels, our news organizations and our entertainment outlets. We are barraged by their backwards messaging all day long and when we disagree with or question any of it we are ostracized and marginalized as bigots, racists and the like. We have a small number of friendly ports on line but we are, for the most part, confined to these enclaves. In the space of 70 years they have become mainstream and we have become the hippie freaks.

The only thing I can do is the same thing they are doing which is to educate my children about the virtues of self ownership, freedom and liberty. In the end, I doubt that will be enough. As we learn of our political leaders seeking legal remedies for questioning things like MMGW (and that will only be the beginning) I know that this will not end well. Freedom can't be stamped out and doesn't die with a whimper, or ever and that can only mean revolution in the end.

It's a shame too. A real waste of human energy. But, it's not like we haven't been warned about all of this. Man has been writing about battles like this since before Shakespeare. In addition to being highly programmable we have short memories. Particularly when it comes to history. I really hope the best for us all.

Stopping Government Waste & Sprawl Is Easy

Although I am not a religious person I do believe that most of us are born sinners. Which is a Judea Christian way of saying that most of us need an incentive to do the right thing in most circumstances.

I sell to government agencies. I get the calls every year from most of the agencies I cover in my territory all telling me the same thing. “Hey. My year end is coming up next month and I have $200,000.00 I need to burn”. I’ve sold millions of dollars in unnecessary equipment to the government just to help the manager of a governmental department make sure they have spent their total annual budgeted amount.

In case you’re not familiar with this phenomena, here is how it works. Almost all government organizations get an annual budget that is based on an increase from last years budget (whether they need it or not). They will get this increase if, and only if, they spend ALL of the money they were given in the previous budget year. If they do not spend ALL of the money in their previous budget year they will not get an increase in their budget for the following year.

Essentially, government organizations are punished for acting responsible with taxpayer money. Because of how the system is set up they are actually given an incentive to act irresponsibly with money. Your money. With this being the case, should we be surprised that government keeps growing and wasting? No. We shouldn’t because the system that government workers use is set up for waste and failure.

The only real way to fix this problem is to incent the workers and managers in government to do the right thing. Until then it doesn’t matter who is in power, Democrat, Republican, Marxist, Libertarian. The government will continue to waste and spiral out of financial control until we change the incentives.

How can government workers be incentivized to spend money more wisely? Well, it is rather simple and it is done successfully all of the time in the private sector. Simply give the management and workers a portion of the budget money they don't spend in the form of an efficiency bonus. Then, to ensure above average service delivery, tie another bonus (using only money from saved budget funds) to some sort of survey done by an independent organization that rewards the managers on a sliding scale for services rendered.

What would be the positive results of such an incentive program?

1. Government employees would have the opportunity to earn more money.
2. Government employees would be more thrifty with tax payer's money knowing that their bonus compensation will be positively impacted if their department spends money wisely.
3. Government employees will deliver services more effectively knowing that their performance and ability to deliver will be independently surveyed and that their compensation will be positively affected if service targets are met.
4. Government would require less money to operate creating a more positive and trusting relationship with the tax payer.
5. Government workers would take a more active role in stopping waste, fraud and abuse knowing that their compensation is positively affected by meeting spending and service targets.
6. Contractors working with the government would need to find real, cost effective, supportable solutions that provide service while saving money.
7. Government workers would be more creative in their work place in order to maintain service levels while remaining financially efficient.
   
8. Tax payers would have a better, more responsive, more efficient government and a trust in the government they pay for.
   

What would be the negative results of such an incentive program?

1. If the surveys that are created to measure service delivery results are inadequate or outdated it may create a situation where results are skewed and create a pay and delivery issue in one direction or the other.
2. If the independent organization managing the surveys does not remain objective or does not administer the surveys properly it can lead to a system that is not trusted by the government employees which would defeat the purpose of the program.
3. If the incentive programs are not properly formed, monitored and shifted based on conditions, the system could loose credibility with the government workers and tax payers.
   

The purpose of a government incentive program like this is not to pay government workers less, or to shrink the number of departments in the government, or to provide fewer services to constituents. In fact, this program is designed to pay government workers more for being frugal and intelligent about how the tax payer's money is spent while delivering high quality services. It is to ensure that the government departments that do provide services provide them using the tax payer's money as though it was their own. It is to ensure that the services that are provided by government organizations are provided at the highest service level possible. And, it is to ensure the tax payer, the people paying the tab, that the money they are paying to the government is being spent as wisely as possible.

In the end, no government can serve all of every constituent's interests. Not all tax payers will always be happy with all of the government programs their money is spent on. However, what all tax payers can agree on is that the money they forfeit to the government should be spent effectively and efficiently and that the services the tax payer pays for should be delivered in an above average way. An incentive program like this could be the foundation for helping this happen and be the olive branch the government holds out to the burdened tax payer.

It wouldn't be perfect. Especially at first. But, it would be better than what we have now. I'd be in support of finding out how well it could work.

Does anyone really believe government run health care will be good?

Today, health care in America is a giant, bureaucratic mess that costs a fortune and delivers poor quality treatment to patients.

Hey! I just thought of a great idea!!! Let's fix our broken health care system by taking the expensive, inefficient bureaucracy that it is and hand over the management of it to a...well...uh...even larger, bureaucratic, inefficient and expensive organization with literally no positive track record of performance delivery or economic efficiency. Dude. I'm totally brilliant!

Seriously. What could go wrong?

Actually, I lived in Canada for a year in 1990. At the time I was 23 and saw rationing first hand. It wasn't that they assessed my age or condition and denied me health care. It was that they made me wait so long for basic health care (the 2 times I tried to get it) that I just ended up suffering through my minor ailments without "free" Canadian health care. Well. It was "free" so I guess I got what I paid for.

Thankfully I was not old and really sick. Or, just old. Or, just young and really sick. Or anything in between. Otherwise, I might have been "rationed" to death.

If you look at "free", government managed health care provided in other countries around the world and the service delivery track record of the U.S. government and somehow still believe that socializing our health care system is a good idea then perhaps "free" psychiatric help is just what you need. You don't mind electro-shock therapy, do you?