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Do you trust your government?

Do you trust your government

  • Yes. The government only wants to tell us the truth.

    Votes: 1 2.6%
  • Mostly but with a grain of salt.

    Votes: 5 12.8%
  • Mostly not but sometimes they're honest.

    Votes: 13 33.3%
  • They might be hobest sometimes but because they lie so often I don''t belive them.

    Votes: 20 51.3%

  • Total voters
    39
American conservatives all seem to want SMALLER GOVERNMENT.

Stalin was SMALLER GOVERNMENT.

Saddam Hussein was SMALLER GOVERNMENT.

Henry VIII was SMALLER GOVERNMENT.

Pol Pot was SMALLER GOVERNMENT.

Kim Jung Il was SMALLER GOVERNMENT.

And of course, Adolph Hitler was SMALLER GOVERNMENT.


Smaller government can be a very bad thing.
 
American conservatives all seem to want SMALLER GOVERNMENT.

Stalin was SMALLER GOVERNMENT.

Saddam Hussein was SMALLER GOVERNMENT.

Henry VIII was SMALLER GOVERNMENT.

Pol Pot was SMALLER GOVERNMENT.

Kim Jung Il was SMALLER GOVERNMENT.

And of course, Adolph Hitler was SMALLER GOVERNMENT.


Smaller government can be a very bad thing.
Umm...I'm pretty sure none of those were 'small governments'.
 
I find the local politicians to be honest and some even dedicated. As the power level of politicians goes up, the honesty goes down. At the Federal level it becomes power and control. That translates to money and information (Federal Reserve/intelligence agencies). These are groups always attempting to control the narrative. That is not a definition or guideline for revealing truths. In this Nation, war is business but the narrative is that we are the World's policeman spreading liberty and justice (bullcrap). Noone states that we are conducting imperialist maneuvers to control the World economically through Corporatism. We write debt to buy the World. As long as the World accepts that debt paper and the narrative presented by Intelligence and Banking agencies it will continue. Is there a lie involved? Does it explain why there is so much lying at all levels of the Federal Government? You just can't say that you are trying to rule the World. That sounds a little too Hitlerish, or Genghis Khanish.
 
I don't trust anonymous polls.

as to my answer-it depends. many government workers are fine people and hard workers, some of them I worked with

others are not so good

just like any other entity in the USA

the problem is that the power and control of the federal government accentuates the evil or screw ups of bad apples working in it

I screwed up the poll questions anyway.
 
Maybe, but it is none of the government's business.

You would deprive them of their busybody jobs?! How heartless!
 
Government workers mid-level and below are not "policy makers." They are regular working stiffs like any working stiff you'll find outside government service.

Each one knows their tiny slice of job duties at varying degrees of competence, trying to earn a living, with the primary difference being the requirement to deal day-in and day-out with "Joe Public."

Joe Public as in irate, annoyed, demanding, appealing, loud, abusive, sneaky, judgmental, crude, reserved...and any other descriptive terms you can think of for all the personality types one might encounter...only they encounter them over and over on a daily basis.

After a while many get jaded, bored, overworked, annoyed, frustrated, or just don't give two sh*ts they just want the day to be over.

They don't know everything. They aren't privy to everything. One Agency seldom works well with another because they are all competing to maintain their jobs against the common lament "we don't need all these government agencies draining our tax dollars."

Your example was probably either misquoted, misstated himself, or was just not up on the current Agency party line at the time he made the comment.

To answer your question...I trust government workers about as much as I trust anyone else, only so far as I need to in order to get along in the world.

The part that blew me away way the complete relaxing tone with which this guy spoke. It was if his job was to calm everyone down even if it required dishonesty. Professional actor. The same exact CDC reported this three weeks earlier. CDC warns more U.S. cities could face Zika threat - CBS News
 
You forgot the poll option of "hell no." Only fools trust their government, or any government for that matter.

:thumbs::thumbs:

That would have been my choice.
 

"Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves." ~ Ronald Reagan.


Think about that a little bit. It's one thing that Reagan said that I agree with.

It's also wrong. Government exists first and foremost for itself. Reagan like so many other people should have opened a history book before opening their mouth.
 
I'm not talking about politicians on the campaign stump. I'm talking about officials, some in non-elected capacities functioning in their roles in service to the American public.

Last week I was on a road trip and scanning the dial I hear a "special broadcast" featuring a spokesman from the CDC informing the public on the Zika Virus. All I can say is somebody is lying their hairy face off. Out of one side of their mouths we're hearing regular reports of the threat to Florida of the Zika Virus due to its tropical climate, what specific areas of the state are in the greatest danger, its worse than we thought, the President requesting emergency funds to combat it in the US, etc. Then this dude from the CDC was asked in a town hall type setting: "Does the Zika Virus pose any risk to American who do not travel outside of the US?" His answer: "Absolutely not. As long as you don't travel outside the the US you have absolutely nothing to be concerned about." Wednesday, Thursday, Friday! Either this CDC spokesman is completely clueless or is lying to the public.

This isn't the first time I've heard government officials lie to the American people in a public health related matter. It seems like job one is not to be honest with their employers, the people of the United States but rather to keep the public from panicking as if we're so emotionally unstable we need to be lied to to keep from being placed on suicide watch. Okay, I've fully vented. :lol:

You asked the question assuming you were only speaking to Americans. Nevertheless, I'll answer as a Spanish resident of British nationality. I do not trust the Spanish government since Spain currently doesn't have one. I do not trust the British government as it seems intent on the destruction of the British economy and social cohesion and of the cohesion of the entire fragile European unity.
 
Do you trust the private sector people who advertise on television?
 
I agree with you completely on that expanded part, N.

But...ummm...how does that make them different from EVERY OTHER HUMAN on the planet?

Nearly as I can determine...EVERY human I have ever known or heard about...is concerned more with self-fulfillment than anything else...and that includes the Mother Theresa's and Albert Schweitzers of the world.

So, YEAH...they ARE concerned more with themselves and their families...than with the people at large. So that means we are picking our leaders from among the humans on the planet.

What do you see as an alternative?

Oh gods no.
Did you really compare modern policy makers to Mother Theresa in that point you were trying to make?
I just can't.

Abraham Lincoln was human to as a note. And Clinton, Trump, or even Sanders or Kasich are no Abraham Lincoln...
And we have come further and further from policy makers who will consider the people before their lobbyists or personal agendas. This may have always been brewing...but it certainly has reached a tempest in modern U.S. Government.
 
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I don't trust anyone. That's why the voters have to keep the government in line, because politics is such an inherently corrupt and corrupting influence.
 
Last week I was on a road trip and scanning the dial I hear a "special broadcast" featuring a spokesman from the CDC informing the public on the Zika Virus. All I can say is somebody is lying their hairy face off. Out of one side of their mouths we're hearing regular reports of the threat to Florida of the Zika Virus due to its tropical climate, what specific areas of the state are in the greatest danger, its worse than we thought, the President requesting emergency funds to combat it in the US, etc. Then this dude from the CDC was asked in a town hall type setting: "Does the Zika Virus pose any risk to American who do not travel outside of the US?" His answer: "Absolutely not. As long as you don't travel outside the the US you have absolutely nothing to be concerned about." Wednesday, Thursday, Friday! Either this CDC spokesman is completely clueless or is lying to the public.
I don't get it. The two are not contradictory. Right now, there is no risk of Zika to Americans who do not travel outside the U.S. At the same time it is possible that Zika could come here and there are many places that would be at risk, and money is needed to take preventive measures.

It's the difference between future threat and immediate threat.
 
I don't trust anyone. That's why the voters have to keep the government in line, because
politics is such an inherently corrupt and corrupting influence.



"Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." ~ Lord Acton
 
I dare say only a handful of trustworthy regimes existed in humanity's history. The rest vary from benevolent despots to deranged tyrants.
 
I'm not talking about politicians on the campaign stump. I'm talking about officials, some in non-elected capacities functioning in their roles in service to the American public.

Last week I was on a road trip and scanning the dial I hear a "special broadcast" featuring a spokesman from the CDC informing the public on the Zika Virus. All I can say is somebody is lying their hairy face off. Out of one side of their mouths we're hearing regular reports of the threat to Florida of the Zika Virus due to its tropical climate, what specific areas of the state are in the greatest danger, its worse than we thought, the President requesting emergency funds to combat it in the US, etc. Then this dude from the CDC was asked in a town hall type setting: "Does the Zika Virus pose any risk to American who do not travel outside of the US?" His answer: "Absolutely not. As long as you don't travel outside the the US you have absolutely nothing to be concerned about." Wednesday, Thursday, Friday! Either this CDC spokesman is completely clueless or is lying to the public.

This isn't the first time I've heard government officials lie to the American people in a public health related matter. It seems like job one is not to be honest with their employers, the people of the United States but rather to keep the public from panicking as if we're so emotionally unstable we need to be lied to to keep from being placed on suicide watch. Okay, I've fully vented. :lol:

The CDC guy was saying two things: If you don't travel to infected areas, don;t worry, BUT infected people coming here, can be a problem, though at the very least sexual transmission. The CD and everybody else was jumping up and down about ebola; were they lying, or was there something to it? It's the deformed birth thing that has everybody upset.

The lying of the government depends upon who is is making the statements. Nixon lied, Reagan lied, GW Bush and his vice president and secretary of defense lied, Clinton lied and those were sitting presidents with an agenda, except Clinton's lie was a personal thing that did speak more about his character, but "the government"? I wouldn't paint it with such a broad brush like that. The CIA of course they lie, the NSA? ditto. But I think that most other governmental departments are pretty clean on that. The VA had a problem, and if said agencies are going to lie, it would be about budgeting issues; companies lie about money issues routinely.

I would not paint the government as some sort of "lying conspiratorial cabal", I think that's a pretty stupid thing to to even think.
 
Oh gods no.
Did you really compare modern policy makers to Mother Theresa in that point you were trying to make?
I just can't.

Abraham Lincoln was human to as a note. And Clinton, Trump, or even Sanders or Kasich are no Abraham Lincoln...
And we have come further and further from policy makers who will consider the people before their lobbyists or personal agendas. This may have always been brewing...but it certainly has reached a tempest in modern U.S. Government.

Humans...as far as I can see, ALL HUMANS...tend to their needs and the needs of their families before the see to the needs of others.

We choose our politicians from among the humans among us.

They are going to see to their own needs and the needs of their families before the needs of the general public.

If you don't realize that...or if you think it should be different...I would suggest you are going to be sorely disappointed.
 
Not when Conservative Republicans,are in charge,they cry about the deficit,but when they're in charge Democrats have to clean up their mess. Bush/Chaney. My opinion!!!
 
The CDC guy was saying two things: If you don't travel to infected areas, don;t worry, BUT infected people coming here, can be a problem, though at the very least sexual transmission. The CD and everybody else was jumping up and down about ebola; were they lying, or was there something to it? It's the deformed birth thing that has everybody upset.

The lying of the government depends upon who is is making the statements. Nixon lied, Reagan lied, GW Bush and his vice president and secretary of defense lied, Clinton lied and those were sitting presidents with an agenda, except Clinton's lie was a personal thing that did speak more about his character, but "the government"? I wouldn't paint it with such a broad brush like that. The CIA of course they lie, the NSA? ditto. But I think that most other governmental departments are pretty clean on that. The VA had a problem, and if said agencies are going to lie, it would be about budgeting issues; companies lie about money issues routinely.

I would not paint the government as some sort of "lying conspiratorial cabal", I think that's a pretty stupid thing to to even think.


I should have been more clear. This particular CDC spokesman said as long as people do not travel out of the US, they have nothing to worry about. Two weeks earlier OTHER CDC officials said the mosquito that spreads Zika is already in 30 states, the threat is worst than we initially thought, the states need to be ready in case mosquitoes begin to spread it in the continental US. 'Scarier than we initially thought': CDC sounds warning on Zika virus

My question is why did the spokesman I heard on the radio say "there's absolutely nothing to worry about if you don't travel outside of the country" if 2 weeks earlier a different CDC official say its a serious threat the the continental US, urging the states to get ready, etc.? What I cannot properly express here is the spokesman Academy Award winning reassuring tone. It basically told me they guy was on a misinformation mission designed to keep the public from knowing the truth likely out of a patronizing attitude that assumes the American public can't handle the truth and he was their only news source on the matter.

By the way, it is already being spread by mosquitoes in the US island territories but I understand a lot of people don't realize the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and American Samoa are part of the United States.
 
The average government worker-bee is no more or no less prone to be honest or dishonest than their private industry counterpart. They are prone to do whatever they can to perpetuate their job whether it's needed or not, which is understandable, but they also have upper level bureaucrats and elected politicians who can help artificially ensure said perpetuation that most private industries do not.

In answer to the OP's question, no I do not trust my government. The lower-level person may not necessarily be lying, but they are towing the line and responding as they're told to respond. The lower-level person I do not consider "government", that's mid-level and above.
 
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