The GOP Nanny State

[TygrBright]

Remember the "Nanny State?" Said with a sneer or a snarl, usually by a GOPie of the neocon or libertarian persuasion, one who was convinced that the greatest possible evil a government could commit was in trying to ensure that its people were healthy, safe, economically secure, etc.

Real Men don't NEED a Nanny State, after all. They don't NEED gubmint progams that encourage slackers and brown people to breed promiscuously (when they're not aborting their fetuses) and lie around collecting welfare. They don't NEED the gubmint putting the factory down the road out of business by forcing it not to dump toxins in the water the Real Men don't drink because, after all, real men drink beer. (And never mind that the brewery is downriver from the factory that went out of business without ever cleaning up its toxic waste, because they don't wanna think about that.) All that does is take those factory jobs away from the Real Men and give them to the Meskins or Chinese in some sweatshop somewhere. (And don't remind them that they voted for the "Right To Work" candidate who subsequently removed all penalties for companies in their state to boot the Unions out of their shops, because Real Men apparently don't need Unions anymore either, Unions being just as bad if not worse than the Nanny State.)

The Nanny State was the ultimate put-down label, intended to evoke a mental picture of government-as-Mary-Poppins (and not the Disney version of Mary, either.) Wagging a finger, frowning, no-no-ing, treating citizens like imbecile children, taking away their God-given and Constitutionally-protected rights to act like assholes, and generally destroying fun, initiative, creativity and the kind of inventive spirit that powered the robber barons to become obscenely rich. (Ah, those were the good old days.... weren't they?)

Me, I grumble about the overly-PC wing of the Democratic Party, too, on occasion. (Who are the overly-PC wing? Why, anyone who doesn't agree with ME, of course... duh!) Yep, they go too far on occasion. Yep, pie in the sky nicey-nice is no substitute for practical attention to the realities of human nature, good and bad. But on the whole, the Nanny State never got past a minor annoyance until the GOPpies grabbed the concept and ran with it.

Now, I'm definitely re-thinking the Nanny State thing.

I could handle a Nanny State that took my taxes to buy school breakfasts and lunches for poor kids. I'm not AT ALL happy with a Nanny State that won't allow my local elected officials to specify food safety disclosures in my supermarket because that might cost Archer Daniels Midland a few hundredths of a percentage point in their profits.

I could live with a Nanny State that required me to wear a helmet when riding a motorcycle. I have REAL problems with a Nanny State that won't allow me to provide body armor for my family member serving in the military going under fire... especially when the cheap-ass Nanny State won't provide armor worth jackshit, either.

I didn't mind a Nanny State that wouldn't allow manufacturers of a highly toxic, carcinogenic, addictive product to advertise that product on television or to target other advertising at children. I really, really don't like a Nanny State that obsessively classifies all the information about its apparatchiks (MY EMPLOYEES, thank you very much) and how they are running what is supposed to be MY government and how they are spending MY tax dollars on no-bid contracts and what they are doing to MY neighbors who signed up for military service to protect ME.

I actually appreciate a Nanny State that politely but insistently collects certain basic information from me every ten years, and uses that information to figure out what me and my neighbors need in the way of roads, schools, voting booths, and other infrastructure. I'm thoroughly PISSED OFF by a Nanny State that insists on its right to listen in on my phone calls without telling me, collect information about my financial transactions from online service providers, view my websurfing records, and otherwise stickybeak my day-to-day business.

So, whose Nanny State would YOU rather live in?

angrily,
Bright

[breakfastofchampions]

1. I don't want either Nanny State

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[greenbriar]

3. oh goody we got a toy

freep boy

[gratuitous]

4. And for people who don't marry the right folks

And for people who want to practice family planning.

And for people who need the government to hold their hand when they go to the library.

And for people who want to be secure in their homes and their personal papers.

Yep, them Republicans are just all over the place on these issues. You might almost call them the Supernanny Party. Or, considering the timing of their interest in citizens' private lives, the Nanny Post-911 Party.

Don't forget to cash your welfare check, BilleeBob.

[cornermouse]

5. Bye bye.

:hi: