Where do you get that out of anything I said? Policing ourselves isn't policing the world. Now who's swallowing the party rhetoric? "Trickle Down" economics - laughable. I addressed that 2 weeks ago in a different thread. http://www.ohio-riders.com/showpost.php?p=526852&postcount=46 Goes back to my original argument, what's essential and what do we need to pay for? A lot of this bloated bureaucracy is created from 'lessons learned' in the past. Ex. Homeland Security - created because we don't want another 9/11, more bloat. I'm not making an argument for or against it, just showing how it gets that way. History. Socialist, but... I will agree with you on that point. Isolationist tendencies don't bode well for economic growth, jussayin'. That's a different debate for a different time Who do you think is subsidizing a lot of this renewable energy source stuff? And you're wrong, between solar and wind, there is more than enough resources to meet America's energy needs when used as complementary sources, not single-sources. That's not what I said... you apparently have the view that people are inherently good, I don't. Capitalism works regardless of responsibility and ethics, we've seen it. The issue was the bailout. The way capitalism works is risk/reward/value-based, and when Wall Street too excessive risks and didn't create or protect value, they were supposed to absorb the punishment that the free market should've doled out, but no - we socialized the punishment. Privatize the profit, socialize the cost. And this'll happen all over again with SOME oversight. What has been meddled with that has gotten worse? Please cite examples that directly affect you, and how they were better before. Once again, I think history will show you WHY these "meddling" politicians has to step in and do something. Not making an argument for or against, just illustrating why, and proving your blanket statement wrong. It has nothing to do with politicians themselves being moral people -- they still are in charge of writing laws that can be fully read and critiqued by those that they affect. And you, as a voter, have a say every few years as to whether they're doing your bidding or not -- I like that. I can at least replace one rat with a less smelly one.