VK,

Your list is interesting, and for everything proposed to be cut, something else seems to be added to take its place.

Social Security benefits have always been an interesting item. It is either a government-forced contributory retirement plan OR it is a tax which the money is lost to the contributor/payor unless changeable criteria are met.

Government-forced medical insurance exists as MediCare/Aid, and it's "success" depends upon which end of the table you sit. From my experience (albeit limited) Medicare without a private Medicare-supplement policy has questionable value due to its limiting payout schedule. So, any government-forced medical insurance for the masses, for which the delivery system is private, is only going to result in a corresponding private insurance supplement being needed, as long as the delivery system is private industry. The other alternative is the expansion of HHS' Public Health Service hospital system to provide public medical care. Somehow, I just can't see the nationalization of the American medical industry, and would fear the quality of care that would provide.

One thing that keeps getting trampled upon during most discussions on what services/actions the federal government should control is the Constitution, specifically the 10th and 14th Amendments. States' Rights and Due Process are not idle concepts, and the rush to have a super-federal must stand Constitutional scrutiny.

The "government" who takes over is just a bunch of men and women, no smarter than those who hang around the average water cooler, and who probably also have a personal financial stake in the outcome. When government screws up and says "Oops," miliions are impacted. That's why there are all sorts of checks and balances to insure the "oops" are minimized.

One think I like about The VIllages is that it is in Florida, a state which more than most respects the civil rights of people and imposes little upon the citizenry in the way of social experimentation. I feel more secure in Florida than I ever have in any Northeastern state. If the federal government was more like the states who don't try to ramrod programs into existence witthout appropriate funding from the target audience to receive the services, or try to meld the doctrines of Jefferson and Marx into a hybrid society, there would be fewer fiscal problems.