Originally Posted by
tomder55
Do I believe the Russians have been doing mischief in American domestic politics ? Yes They have been doing that for years..............[skip]....................ultimate insider and almost lost his nomination for a 2nd term on the convention floor. Carter to this day thinks he was right about South Korea and that he was undermined by the establishment .
Thank you for the history lesson. I enjoyed reading it although my days of Hobbes' Leviathan are far behind me. I congratulate you on keeping up. I don't want this to become a debate on political philosophy since I am clearly outgunned, so I'll move on with one little aside about my favorite president.
Wasn't Republican Lincoln when the Federal government had its first major expansion? Not progressive Wilson?
Back to the present ---- Government requires a bureaucracy to run it. We can't elect all the tens (hundreds?) of thousands every election cycle. I've known many government employees and they are ordinary decent folk doing a job. They would be surprised to be called the "deep state", as ominous a term as I've ever heard.
You imply they're all in some wild, far-flung conspiracy - our in-house Illuminati. Regulations supplement laws. A law needs more than beautiful words to be effective. And not everything can be anticipated - hence, amendments. Anyway, I'm sure you get the idea.
I have always suspected that deeply ingrained into the psyche of the right is a fear of government dating back at least to Jefferson. Maybe it reflected the kings of the time and the unfair class system so common then. Jefferson, however was a realist. See the Louisiana Purchase.
Carter's desire to pull out the troops in South Korea was a bad idea. In that case, the "deep state" performed a valuable function. I don't think there's any doubt the North would have found a reason to invade again. Maybe Carter, a Navy man, was piqued at the Pueblo seizure. Who knows. Carter was a good man who was not a very effective president.
We are no longer in the 18th century, protected by a huge ocean, with farmers being the body politic. Being the leading nation on the planet requires lots of hands doing lots of work. That work is best done by a centralized entity. The states can do their thing but anything big (military, NASA, environment, maybe public education, fiscal policy, et al) needs the Feds.
The best governed is the least governed. Pretty statement, but does it still apply? I would put effectiveness in front of size.