Originally Posted by Robbie

Why would I be a "lowly worker" "with not much chance"?

I could have been that right here in my own lifetime.
But I'm not.

As far as electricity:
Thomas Edison (a guy who dropped out of school) is the one who personally wired up New York with his company. He envisioned electricity as being free for everyone. That was impossible of course. But the U.S. govt. had nothing to do with people having electricity. The electric company utilities (which charge me an arm and a leg) do.

How does the govt. "fund" the internet? That's really interesting to me. How? What exactly do they "fund"? And if they do...then WHY am I paying $150 a month for a 50 MBS download connection? Could of sworn those were all private businesses doing that.
Or do you mean that it was guys working for the govt. back a few decades who had the first primitive computers that communicated? Or NASA's work in computer technology?
Yes, I agree on THAT.
And guess what...those in society that actually pay taxes...paid for that. Right? But the govt. (whose money comes from people like me and you) doesn't have to "fund" the internet. We all pay for it when we pay our bill.

The govt. provides the "educated work force"? Really? How?
That statement is a bit crazy.
We have public schools. They are paid for by local property tax. People like me who own my own property have to write a check.
Public schools are definitely something that the govt. did a good thing in creating. The BAD part of it is that it's not a tax that is paid by everyone.

Courts that uphold contracts...yes, a civilized society does need courts to maintain the law.
I would say that our govt. (federal, state, and local) may have gone a little TOO far with writing laws though. They seem to have a law against EVERYTHING. And a lot of the "law" seems to be ways to grab even more money from citizens.

I agree that govt. has certain roles. But don't forget WE are the govt. (at least we are supposed to be). But the govt. seems to think that we work for them instead of the other way around.