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Suri wrote: Tue Jan 22, 2019 4:21 pm FBI agents say shutdown is hampering counter-terrorism, sex trafficking probes...

The partial government shutdown is hampering FBI investigations into terror suspects, drug traffickers and child sexual predators, according to a report by a group representing the federal law enforcement officers.

Hmmm, might I suggest that they shift a few agents from their current focus on overthrowing the U.S. government? That should give them plenty of resources to cover everything else.

Suri wrote: Wed Jan 09, 2019 1:12 am

Soccerdad1995 wrote: Tue Jan 08, 2019 6:34 pm Let's apply a simple test.

Does the federal agency do something that is also done by state / local government agencies, or by another federal agency? If so, does the federal agency add significant value that cannot possibly be accomplished by these other agencies?

Hey, we could take governmental redundancy rejection to the extreme and eliminate state, county, and local governments instead.
Kidding, of course, but I've always wondered if the needs of the people vary that much from state to state or even city to city.

Actually the reverse process makes more logical sense. To the extent that the needs of folks differ at all from place to place, local decision makers elected by local residents will necessarily be more responsive to the needs of those local residents. They can easily get feedback and tweak policies without needing to consider unintended impacts on others who might be thousands of miles away. The natural bias should be toward only having a broad federal agency if there is compelling evidence that they are extremely better at meeting the needs of the taxpayer. Otherwise, everything should be handled by state / local government.

One area where federal control makes sense IMHO is with our national defense.

Liberty wrote: Tue Jan 08, 2019 5:41 am How about we get rid of ICE, It seems as though it's one of those agencies both sides might agree on.
Department of Education. (We can dispose of a Cabinet position and the much hated Betsy DeVos

Come to think about it we could get rid of most of the Government, most of it is a pretty broad reach of what the Constitution tells us our Government's purpose is.

Let's apply a simple test.

Does the federal agency do something that is also done by state / local government agencies, or by another federal agency? If so, does the federal agency add significant value that cannot possibly be accomplished by these other agencies?

For example, I know the FBI is pretty inept, but if we could get them to stop colluding to overturn the results of our elections, then maybe they would be able to enforce laws related to alcohol tobacco, and firearms so we could get rid of the ATF. That might mean we have no one left to declare that rubber bands are suddenly machine guns, but I think we would somehow still manage to survive.

jmorris wrote: Mon Jan 07, 2019 1:24 pm

Soccerdad1995 wrote: Mon Jan 07, 2019 1:08 pm

jmorris wrote: Mon Jan 07, 2019 11:35 am

Ameer wrote: Sun Jan 06, 2019 7:45 pm ....

Actually, I think the federal government should get rid of unneeded employees, instead of giving them time off with pay, but apparently I'm deplorable for even thinking such a thing.

Big difference between non-essential and not needed.

Not really. At least not IMHO. Let's allow this shutdown to keep going for another month. Then take a poll and ask folks which services they missed. Anything with less than a 60% "yes I missed this" vote gets closed permanently. I would guess that VERY few of the "non-essential" employees would have a job after that. Oh, and we get the added benefit of no deficit!

IMHO.I disagree. If you have a store that requires 10 employees to adequately staff, to stock shelves, to handle customer service, etc, but you could just barely keep the doors open with four, the other six could be considered non-essential, but would be needed.

Now, if you believe there are services the government provides that aren't needed, that I'd agree with.

I think the better analogy is if you had 3 stores all selling the same thing, right next to each other, in a town with a population of 25. You only need 1 store (at most). I am saying that there are ALOT of duplicative agencies out there that we really don't need at all.

Just off the top of my head..... What does the Department of Education do that cannot be done by existing state and local government educational agencies? What does ATF do that cannot be done by the FBI, and state / local law enforcement agencies? Do we really need a separate agency just to focus on regulating 3 things that are all legal?

jmorris wrote: Mon Jan 07, 2019 11:35 am

Ameer wrote: Sun Jan 06, 2019 7:45 pm ....

Actually, I think the federal government should get rid of unneeded employees, instead of giving them time off with pay, but apparently I'm deplorable for even thinking such a thing.

Big difference between non-essential and not needed.

Not really. At least not IMHO. Let's allow this shutdown to keep going for another month. Then take a poll and ask folks which services they missed. Anything with less than a 60% "yes I missed this" vote gets closed permanently. I would guess that VERY few of the "non-essential" employees would have a job after that. Oh, and we get the added benefit of no deficit!

Here's what I wish the Republicans would do. Unfortunately, true Republicans are vastly outnumbered by the cabal of RINO's, Democrats, Socialists, and Communists in DC, so this will never actually happen. But IF we had a true Republican majority in the senate, I would love to see them announce that they will consider no bills at all until they get a bill from the House that includes full funding for the border wall. In the meantime, all available time will be spent confirming Trump's judicial nominees.

That means no consideration of gun confiscation, confiscatatory tax increases, socialized medicine, or any other crazy priorities from the Communists in the House. The non-essential part of the Federal government (which is really the majority of it, TBH) stays shut down, and we get no new regulations or taxes, but we do get a nice conservative shift in the judiciary. I call that a win.