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Harris Sherline: ‘I’m from the Government, and I’m Here to Help’
“I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.”
President Ronald Reagan called that statement “the nine most terrifying words in the English language.” His comment is still cited today. It illustrates the maxim that the more government expands, the more intervention there is into the lives of the people.
“With more than 1.8 million civilian employees, the federal government, excluding the Postal Service, is the nation’s largest employer. About nine out of 10 federal employees work outside the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.” (Wikipedia)
The following list of federal administrative departments and regulatory agencies illustrates the point (source: U.S. Office of Personnel Management):
» Agriculture Department — 92,000 employees
» Commerce Department — 39,000 employees
» Defense Department — 623,000 employees
» Education Department — 4,000 employees
» Energy Department — 15,000 employees
» Health and Human Services Department — 60,000 employees
» Housing and Urban Development Department — 10,000 employees
» Interior Department — 66,000 employees
» Justice Department — 105,000 employees
» Labor Department — 16,000 employees
» State Department — 14,000 employees
» Transportation Department — 53,000 employees
» Treasury Department — 109,000 employees, including the Internal Revenue Service
In addition, the following independent agencies have a total of 179,000 employees: the Environmental Protection Agency, the General Services Administration, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Office of Personnel Management, the Small Business Administration, the Social Security Administration and the Tennessee Valley Authority.
The foregoing departments and agencies all have tentacles that extend into the affairs of Americans, in addition to the plethora of committees and regulators who work directly for the executive and congressional branches of government. Add President Barack Obama’s 29 czars to the mix. Although some were confirmed by Congress, while others are statutorily created positions established by congressional legislation, many were selected without any oversight.
However, the Obama administration is not unique in the use of czars to manage the executive branch of the federal government. The practice dates back to Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had 19 czars. The only president who didn’t have any czars was Harry Truman, although several — Dwight Eisenhower, Gerald Ford and Reagan — each had only one. Perhaps surprisingly, the president who had the greatest number of czars was George W. Bush, with 47.
The Food and Drug Administration, which is part of the Health and Human Services Department, further exemplifies the extent of the reach and control over the population that is exercised by the federal government.
In an Oct. 13 article, the Washington Post reported:
“With much of Washington focused on efforts to revamp the health-care system and address climate change, a handful of Obama appointees have been quietly exercising their power over the trappings of daily life. They are awakening a vast regulatory apparatus with authority over nearly every U.S. workplace, 15,000 consumer products and most items found in kitchen pantries and medicine cabinets.
“Top appointees at the Food and Drug Administration, for example, have cracked down on dietary supplements with ‘steroidlike’ substances that for years had been sold in gyms and health-food stores. In a move designed as much for symbolism as effect, the new chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission dispatched all 100 agency inspectors across the country last month to enforce a law that requires special drains on swimming pools to prevent children from entrapment. The agency shut down more than 200 pools.
“The new regulators display a passion for rules and a belief that government must protect the public from dangers lurking at home and on the job — one more way the new White House is reworking the relationship between government and business.”
Another example of government overreaching into the lives of citizens was recently noted by TimesOnline, which reported that a proposal is being considered to give British health and safety inspectors “unprecedented access to family homes to ensure that parents are protecting their children from household accidents.” The objective is to “collect data” from the premises where children are “thought to be at ‘greatest risk of unintentional injury’” and to ensure that appropriate safety devices, such as smoke alarms, stair gates, hot water temperature restrictors, oven guards and window and door locks, are installed.
Needless to say, this is viewed by many Brits as an unwarranted intrusion into family life: “Good parents will feel the intrusion of the state in their homes, and bad parents will now have someone else to blame if they don’t bring up their children in a safe environment.”
Remember the nine words Reagan considered the most terrifying words in the English language: “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.”
— Harris R. Sherline is a retired CPA and former chairman and CEO of Santa Ynez Valley Hospital who has lived in Santa Barbara County for more than 30 years. He stays active writing opinion columns and his blog, Opinionfest.com.
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» on 11.29.09 @ 05:01 AM
Do we really want to turn it all over to Enron, the oil companies, Walmart, the insurance companies, the drug companies, the banks, the savings and loan companies, Blackwater, Halliburton, KBR, the arms merchants, etc?
The American family run company that took good care of their employees and customers is a thing of the past. Those jobs and industries have all been exported to China or where ever labor is cheaper. Today corporate greed rules.
I agree that the government’s record isn’t the best, but neither is that of big business.
Maybe those terrifying words are, “I’m from a corporate friend of President Bush and I’m here to help.”
Have we forgotten that Reagan was the biggest biggest spending president up to his time and Bush broke that record. And all along they cut taxes for the rich.
And Clinton sort of left a surplus.
Don’t blame Obama for the past 8 disaster years.
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» on 11.29.09 @ 08:11 AM
Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center TOTAL PROJECT CONSTRUCTION COST:
Approximately $829 million
FUNDING: The Federal Emergency Management Agency provided $432 million in earthquake relief toward the project and the State of California provided $44 million. Private donors contributed nearly $300 million, including a $150 million gift pledged in Ronald Reagan’s honor by a group of prominent civic and cultural leaders. The balance of funding came from hospital financing and bonds.
Building costs for the governmental Ronald Reagan Freeway (formerly Hwy 118) is still mounting with ongoing maintenance costs and with earmarks (government) estimated at $53 million for a proposed widening project.
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library property I’m sure was purchased as a non-profit removing it from the county tax roll and perhaps negatively affecting county, state and federal budgets by requiring services that it does not support. Wealthy “private donors” receive generous tax breaks for their pet projects while municipalities or “the gubment” may struggle to pay for schools, roadway improvements, police and fire, etc services.
In Ronald Reagan’s name there are at least two properties in Santa Barbara County, a seclusive ranch and a “center” that are operating as non-profits and probably do not pay property taxes and thus also removes tax revenue for local services. This is usurpation of government’s role in providing services to the ordinary taxpayer. These two properties steep the youth of America in the myth of Ronald Reagan and these .org “non-profits” are spewing this Harris Sherline type propaganda. This mythical promotion of the political figure Ronald Reagan does a disservice to this United States of America and reportedly representational and Democratic Republic.
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» on 11.29.09 @ 08:36 AM
Harris Sherline, as usual, omits crucial pieces of information… in this case, the swimming pool regulation was caused by James Baker, yes, James Baker, the one who was Ronald Reagan’s Chief of Staff and Secretary of the Treasury.
Harris Sherline and other US haters (I counted the late Ronald Reagan as one) should move to a totally free country like Somalia so they don’t have to worry about government intrusion.
In Harris Sherline’s case, he made a fortune exploiting governmen health regulations that allow industry to deny health care to women who are raped.
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» on 11.29.09 @ 10:01 PM
I just learned a new word : Bozone:Defined as a substance that surrounds stupid people that cannot be penetrated, and is unlikely to be dissolved in the future.
A model for that is Sherline, who parrots the garbage spewed by the likes of Limbaugh. Hannity, and Beck
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» on 11.30.09 @ 03:04 PM
What? An article about Government being a large and intrusive employer turning into an invective against Ronald Reagan and/or the defects in corporate governance? Good Grief! How easy it is to strike a nerve in people who hate and irrationally so….
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» on 12.01.09 @ 03:59 PM
Yep Allan and for an aging lawyer, you have all the wisdom of toe fungus. Quit looking at your giant ego in the mirror you narcissist. If there was ever any evidence of stupidity it is with left wing elites spewing offense at the “stupid people”. No better way to demonstrate your own stupidity than constantly pointing it out in others (hey wait a minute, that’s what I do! Damn, I’m no different than ole Allan!).
As for the comment by publius, are you smoking crack or just not taking your prescribed meds? Harris is a US hater? Where do you libs get this whacko off the wall baloney? Oh I know, you heard a conservative say that about a lib once and though it was a reciprocal statement. It isn’t, ya know. Liberals hate themselves. They hate their country, well most of it, anyway. They hate being held accountable for their own behavior and they hate anyone that is not a liberal (and by liberal I mean liberal, leftist, progressive and some democrats, all are the same). Their hatred of conservative ideology is spectacular and reminiscent of a spoiled bratty child raised by a liberal dope smoking mother always whining when things don’t go their way. Well a big fat whaaaaaa to you all! As Savage says, “liberalism is a mental disorder” and the pathetic state of suicidal tendencies among liberal thinkers highlights that statement beautifully.
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» on 12.04.09 @ 09:10 AM
Accountability? US Haters like Ronald Reagan did get a small taste from Lawrence Walsh. Too bad Bush pardoned many of the felons in the Reagan administration. But Reagan was never held accountable or his massive deficit spending, just as GW Bush will never be held accountable for his 2 losing wars, his $23.7 trillion transfer of taxpayers’ dollars to his buddies on wall street, or his massive disrespect for soldiers who fight and die for the US. I think sharing shanty in Somalia would teach Harris Sherline, AN50, and GW Bush why a governmentis a good thing.
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