Not sure who would be more excited about this story…the Bloodhoung Gang, or the \"tea partiers\",
The NO SOCIALISM signs at the tea parties(and at my neighbors house) really have meaning when they are put into action. Now we have a perfect example. Unfortunately this example does not take place in 1810 but in 2010.
A local neighborhood is furious after firefighters watched as an Obion County, Tennessee, home burned to the ground.
The homeowner, Gene Cranick, said he offered to pay whatever it would take for firefighters to put out the flames, but was told it was too late. They wouldn’t do anything to stop his house from burning.
Each year, Obion County residents must pay $75 if they want fire protection from the city of South Fulton. But the Cranicks did not pay.
The mayor said if homeowners don’t pay, they’re out of luck.
Welcome to tea party America….
Hey – I’d love to have everything like this. An itemized bill – an a la carte listing of services and prices. We can then make our own choices. I don’t think the government could deal with that kind of transparency though.
Locke, I am all for taxes Ala carte….but when my neighbors dont pay for the fire department and I do and then my house burns down because theirs does…thne what? Can we choose to not pay the politicians a salary?
Ok, seriously, way to choose the most obscure extreme example. It’s like when someone suggests cutting the budget, the liberals say, oh no we can’t do that because you won’t have police and fire protection. Yeah, as if there were no other areas to make cuts.
How does your example apply to REAL socialism like health care? Next I suppose you will say the military is socalism because we all pay. The fact that you can’t make a rational distinction speaks volumes. Oh well, I guess the government should provide EVERYTHING for us then.
The military is socialism, that is inarguable, so are the police and fire departments. This is a perfect example of putting the “NO SOCIALISM” signs into action.
Health care reform is not remotely socialism. I was showing the lack of understanding of the tea men who have no idea what they are against.
Of course the government should not provide everything for us, that is ridiculous also. As big as our economy is, we will forever have a mixed economy, it is a blend of numerous kinds of systems and that is how it works best. So the people that call OBAMA a socialist just have no basis in facts.
Generally when this happens – and to be sure, this exact thing has happened before, will happen again and is much more common than you realize – the fire department will come in and do what they can to prevent the fire from spreading to surrounding properties (that are covered & have paid) as well as helping rescue or otherwise take care of any people who need help. Just not the property in question.
You know, your taxes are itemized at the local level. All you have to do is go to your town/village/city and county halls and ask for a break down by budget.
This is why I’m so upset with the whole anti-tax crowd. They don’t even know how to check on what they are paying for and how much each service is costing or researching the pro and cons but they bitch constantly about it. It’s bitching about something based solely on what other people tell you instead of doing your own homework….lazy and stupid all in one big bundle.
Sure Kay – but while there’s plenty of lazy whining, the bulk of the anti-tax complaints are of the federal government, not local. I’ve lived in two different towns the last 15 years, and not just by happenstance. The level of accountability is just not even in the same universe at the federal government and congress.
The tea party movement has been focused on the federal government – lack of accountability, too much taxation and a continual erosion of rights. But making a strawman out of local governments is certainly an easier argument to make.
Locke I need to move to your town, my Village has become very political and crazy.
As for the “tea partiers” I have looked and did not see any disclaimers on any of the signs…..socialism in local government is ok just not the national government”…. just sayin
If you actually think police and fire protection constitute the “socialism” we are all talking about, you have clearly missed the point of the tea party movement. It’s about government overstepping its bounds on the private economy. It’s about Obama saying he wants to spread the wealth around and take things from people who pay taxes and give benefits to people who don’t.
And as I suspected, this particular case involved a rural area that did not have its own fire dept, but wasn’t covered by the city (i.e. paying taxes). It also illustrates the problem with socialism — everyone wants the benefits, but no one wants to pay. Why should anyone pay for fire protection if they are going to put it out for free? Eventually you run out of other people’s money.
Read this story about how the federal government is making every city in the nation change the type and font of their street signs and then tell me we don’t have a federal government that is OUT OF CONTROL.
Here’s a cool million down the tubes for Milwaukee. $27 million in New York. Money that could be better spent. How very progressive.
http://www.jsonline.com/newswatch/104303879.html
This story is ridiculous, I agree 100%. I would say its probably not obama behind this though. i would also say that corporations do many ridiculous things also. The difference is you can call your elected reps and complain about this. You cant do that to a corporation.
I can see changing the parameters for new signs but not replacing old signs that do not need it.
Are you kidding?! I don’t need to complain to a corporation if/when it does something stupid. A.) They aren’t using my tax money to do it. B.) Unless I am a stockholder, why would I care. I can let my choice as a consumer decide what is in my best interests. That’s the beauty of a free market. C.) Because of that free market, there are consquences when private industry does something stupid (unless the Feds want to jump in and bail them out and/or take them over). There are rarely consequences to stupidly spending tax money.
You are so blinded by your hatred of the private economy, businesses, and corporatations that your comparison doesn’t even make sense.
It’s not Obama behind it?! It’s the Federal Highway Administration, a division of the US Department of Transportation. That’s certainly part of the Obama Administration. Funny how you held Bush accountable for everything (including the weather), but Obama isn’t behind this or accountable for it.
corporations certainly are using your tax dollars via not paying their fair share. They pay less whether it’s in reduced taxes, tax loopholes, tax incentives or whatever else the pro-corporate legislaters can slide through. Does it matter if you pay directly to them or you pay to the government to make up for what they’re not paying? Not in my book!
And, quit saying we have a free market system. We don’t and haven’t for a long time……thus the tax breaks and incentives. Our government has been helping the “market” for a very long time now. A free market would depend solely upon consumer choice and dollar value without any government action at all.
P.S. If we had an overall smaller, less-encompassing federal government to begin with, things like this wouldn’t happen and I wouldn’t have to complain to my elected representatives each and every time. And this is just one example that came to light in the press, on top of the countless ones you never hear about.
But you liberals/progressives support all these federal progams and interventions and seek to make the federal government bigger!
Here’s another big example you should know about, 60 Minutes report on how easy it is to commit Medicare fraud: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/23/60minutes/main5414390.shtml
To the tune of $60 billion! And you were hoodwinked into believing ObamaCare is somehow going to save money, because they said the bill projected a dramatic reduction in this fraud. Well, if they can prevent the fraud, why aren’t they doing it now?!
I said it is easier to complain to an elected politician than it is to a multi national company. You can vote the elected politician OUT, you cant do that with the global company.
And why do people still say that “conservatives” Ie republicans are for a smaller, less-encompassing federal government? Have you not read a paper in the last 30 years? pretty much every MAJOR BIG GOVERNMENT initiative has been a republican proposal. Lets see 21 drinking age, mandatory seat belts, No Child left behind, Patriot act, Medicare part D,
Police and fire protection is absolutely socialism. So now are you saying there is good and bad socialism? You understand that raising the top tax rate from 36% to 39% is not anywhere near socialism right?
This particular case involved an area where an all republican government voted to stop funding the fire department through the taxes and charge individually. This is the perfect example of the “tea party” and republican governance in action.
And you are correct I dont get the tea party message because it appears to be stop making the koch brothers pay taxes.
I give up. By your definition having any government at all is socialism. So for you it is either socialism or anarchy, and if we have some socialism (as what you consider it to be), then we might as well have all socialism.
Not at all forgot, as you will see from a previous comment.
“”Of course the government should not provide everything for us, that is ridiculous also. As big as our economy is, we will forever have a mixed economy, it is a blend of numerous kinds of systems and that is how it works best. So the people that call OBAMA a socialist just have no basis in facts.””
Would you say Obama is taking us down the road toward more socialism, less socialism, or about the same?
I would say that there is not one thing that Obama has done that has been taking us down any “socialist” road…
So he’s advocating for smaller government and individualism then?
And if he’s NOT taking us down a socialist road one bit, why do YOU still like him?
Because as I also pointed out we dont have a socialist society anymore than we have a “free”market society. We have a mixed society and that is how it runs and that is how it will always run. The Socialist warning cry is just to spark fear in the base and it really means nothing in the end. Where we need socialism it works perfectly, until the repubs start messing with it and allow someones house to burn…
Fine you say it is mixed. Is it a 50-50 mix? No one wants to tilt your mix one way or the other? It’s not exactly a secret that American liberals and progressives have preferred European-style socialism for years. Working out great for France and Greece, isn’t it?
As for letting someone’s house burn. If the guy paid his taxes as you say, why didn’t he pay the extra $75 optional fee for fire protection?
That people are actually defending this speaks volumes and says more than I ever could.