Government as a lemon

An oldie but a goody by request.

Greg asks:

Lance, any chance of reposting your beautiful description of goverment/car/republicans?  I thought I'd bookmarked it, and now that I'd like to quote you (accurately) I can't find it.  Thanks!

Glad to oblige.  Here it is, from an old post called Remember good old President Mondale?

If the Goverment is a car setting out to give every one a ride to work, then for 40 years the Republicans have been puncturing the tires, pouring sand in the gas tank, stealing the distributer cap, and, whenever they can get their hands on the wheel, driving it straight into the nearest ditch and then, pointing to the wreckage as the tow truck backs up to it, saying, See, this proves that people were meant to walk.

And they do this so that they don't have to chip in on gas.

Comments

[actor212]

And using it to run over little old ladies and people with dark skin.

[Greg]

Thank you! The best description I've ever read!

[Victoria]

Came to this right after watching online BookTV of Thom Hartmann doing a book talk at the Strand Bookstore last November, in which he argued (with evidence) the case that the fundamental difference between conservatives and liberals is this: Conservatives view people as generally evil. Liberals view people as primarily good.

Therefore, government, made up of people, is...

[Batocchio]

Thanks!

Al Franken tells a similar joke, and you might also like Tom Tomorrow's take:

http://dir.salon.com/story/comics/tomo/2005/11/28/tomo/index1.html

[a different chris]

It's way cute, but I dunno.

From real estate developers to agribusiness thru the military contractors and Wall Street finishing up with the "law and order" types, it seems that the Republicans love government more than we could ever manage. They have no interest in wrecking it, for sure.

I think it's more apt to imagine them coming and stealing your car in the middle of the night to go joyriding, leaving you standing by an empty driveway, shit out of luck with no way to get to work.

And then when you call them they not only disavow the theft but show no sympathy, saying you should have forseen this and bought a second car.

[carsick]

And when called on their actions they accuse you of focusing on the past and wanting to point fingers while they want to focus on the future. In fact they don't understand why you don't want to work with them, in a bipartisan way, to focus on the problems at hand. They are looking for the most efficient walking path to work and have just the right shoes to sell you to do that walking.

[Greg]

Hi Lance,
Aren't you glad I asked?
Thx again,
Greg

[The Dude]

If your operational philosophy is that government doesn't work, then it should be no surprise that when you control the government it doesn't work. It has to be a self-fulfilling prophecy or you're proven wrong.

It never ceases to amaze me how the "serious" people fail to point this out.

[yzfool]

This was just beautifully said. I've been quoting it often.

OT: Actor! Whazzup?!!!