If Only That Were The Extent Of It

Somehow liberals think that if they can just show that our government does something right it then should have license to do anything and everything.  With us.  To us.  For us.  Upon us.  At us.  On us.  Against us.  Despite us.

Case in point, the incongruously liberal Roanoke Times editorial page this morning. See "Buchanan solves its water problem":

There's a lot to celebrate in the news that Buchanan has improved the safety of its well water, an achievement in itself for the Botetourt County town of just 1,200 people.

Given the anti-Washington, small-government tenor of the times, Buchanan offers a reminder of the essential nature of government. Only effective government can ensure some things taken for granted in a developed nation, things as basic to life as clean drinking water.

One has to chuckle at the naïveté. We anarchists should be ashamed, and should marvel at the fact that various government entities banded together and actually did something that we consigned to them to do.

Earth to liberals: We conservatives rejoice when those we pay to do our collective bidding actually promote the general welfare of this nation.  But making water potable is a far cry from telling me how much I'm allowed to earn, what I can eat, how I'm to dress, and where I can get medical treatment.  And God help me if I think I'm going to be allowed to smoke a cigarette.

We expect our government to provide basic services that relate to national defense, infrastructure maintenance and improvement, protection of our lives and our property, and the ability to interact with one another without fear of reprisal (that freedom of speech thingy).  We even go so far as to allow for the government to involve itself in dealing with the health and well-being of the sick and infirm among us.

But anything beyond that and we got a problem.

Education policy?  Do you really want to go there?  Energy policy?  What energy policy?  Housing and urban development?  One word: Detroit.  Welfare?  Are we to cheer the fact that an increasing number of Americans who can't find work because, in part, the government has driven jobs overseas through punitive taxation and regulation are on relief and receive their handouts on time?

The government paid for a well to be dug in Buchanan, Virginia.  Oh, happy day.  So shut up if the government tells your children what they will be able to consume for the rest of their lives?

Pardon me.  The logic just doesn't get me there.