and over 400 billion dollars this is what we get from Afghanistan.

If we want smaller government, we will have to pick up the slack. Helping change another life for the better may be the most satisfying work we do on Earth. It is part of my own ethic and I can testify to the satisfaction it has given me. Make it a fad and it could become a trend. Ron Paul’s answer, which to some sounded crass, might prove itself to be the ultimate in compassion.

Read more here…

The other side of the “let’s get the government off our back” is that we’ll have to change as well. Let me explain.

That there will be poor, homeless, and people in need of services is a constant. It’s been that way from the dawn of time. In the last 70 plus years we as Americans have slowly but surely given over large portions of that population to the government to feed, house, teach, and pay the bill. And as governments have taken on the responsibility we’ve been freed from what had heretofore been our tasks, except, of course, for paying the bill. Grandma doesn’t live in our house anymore, she goes to a nursing home at taxpayers expense and instead of taking care of her we go and visit.

Now if we really do “want the government off of our back” and out of our lives we’re also going to have to think about Grandma, and the homeless guy down the street, and the kid who doesn’t have enough to eat before school. They’re still going to be there and they’re still going to have needs. Who is going to step up? Are you? Am I? We want freedom from taxes and we want less regulation by and involvement with the government. It’s not a bad idea but the cost of that freedom is that we, perhaps for the first time, are not going to be able to farm our problems out to some agency or just count on welfare to take care of things.

We’re going to have to live of our lives in a different way. Grandma may come to live with us and not just for a weekend. We’re going to have to get our own hands dirty. We’re going to have to care more than in words. Are you ready for that? Am I ready for that? Is the Church ready for that? We’ll see.

Just be careful what you ask for because you might get it.

Mankind will never see an end of trouble until… lovers of wisdom come to hold political power, or the holders of power… become lovers of wisdom.

Plato

it’s no longer the Federal Government, it’s now the Federal “Family”.  Uh huh.

increases $3,000,000 every minute and our children and grandchildren will hate us for doing nothing.

…St. Paul was clear that government is ordained by God, and St. Thomas helps us see that a robust public sphere protects us from the consequences of our sinfulness, as well as helping us achieve the goods only possible in community. However, as Yuval Levin recently argued in National Affairs, at this juncture of history, if we care about preserving the goods of government, then we need to recognize the limits of government—and we need to gather the political will to impose those limits.

Read more here.