Too many act as if socialism is an on/off switch, that we either have it or we don't.Of course we need some government services. I don't know of anyone that wants to get rid of the military, fire departments, border agents, etc. You're using a strawman arguement.
The reality is it's a continuum, and unles someone wants to live in a country very unlike anything the US has ever been, the real question is "how much socialism".
Taxes, highways, the military, many fire departments & hospitals, public schools, boarder patrols, dams/leveys, etc., are all socialistic. I acknowledge there are some who would eliminate all these, but I think most sane people would rather discuss how much and what the rules/processes are. We are almost all socialists to some degree, just a question of what the degree is. Originally Posted by Old-T
What conservatives believe in is limited government. The federal government should be limited in its actions by the enumerated powers in the constitution; all of our elected representatives are sworn to do precisely that. If the states want to do more they are allowed to.
The federal government is bankrupt because we have abandoned the constitution. We don't need to shut down all government services but we do need to live within our means. The federal government takes in 2.5 trillion dollars per year and spends 3.8 trillion dollars. As a point of reference, the federal budget was 2.8 trillion dollars in 2006. Government services should be limited to what we can afford for 2.5 trillion dollars. You can buy a whole lot of services for that much money.