Look who knows best -this Yale girl wants to run our lives

[VMI77]

"Maya Shankar, a late-20s Yale graduate...joined the Obama administration in April as a senior policy advisor..."

Female, late 20's, senior policy advisor.

Barack taking a page out of Bill's play book? At least she has a decent title.

I don't know about that....word on the street seems to be that The One used to frequent the Chicago bath houses and that his preference is for, well, not women. But maybe analogous to Slick Willie in the sense that Slick was Hillary's beard and Michelle is BO's beard (and btw, Weiner is supposedly Huma's beard.....which may explain a lot.....Huma really being Hillary's "wife").

[rbwhatever1]

Listen here, little Missy. I was making intelligent life choices when your mommy was still gagging over your soiled diapers.

The Federal Government is the last bunch of incompetent morons I need telling me how to run my life. They can't even get their own stuff in order.

"Former violin prodigy." Whoop-de-do.

Well Said!!

[MeMelYup]

Listen here, little Missy. I was making intelligent life choices when your mommy was still gagging over your soiled diapers.

The Federal Government is the last bunch of incompetent morons I need telling me how to run my life. They can't even get their own stuff in order.

"Former violin prodigy." Whoop-de-do.

Well Said!!

But she has the education for it and went to Yale.

[tbrown]

The last time an Ivy League graduate tried to run my life, I broke up with her.

[Dragonfighter]

She's a violin prodigy, she'll fiddle while Rome...I mean Amerika burns.

[VoiceofReason]

You folks do recognize this has been going on since, well, forever? What do you think the tax breaks for married couples are but a govt incentive to a behavior that is believed to be a societal benefit. Mind you the idea of ivory tower intellectuals running the show hardly fills me with confidence but if all this project does is attempt to encourage behavior viewed as beneficial, well that would apply to any public service announcement or even just building a park, promoting health an exercise right?, so over reacting to this is just making you look a bit off.

And we don’t want to “look a bit off” to some other people do we? We should follow the lead of everyone else and not “stand out”, right?

I don’t remember ever giving a flip what others thought of me even in grade school. I have always gone my own way and I have never understood people that will “just go along with the crowd” in order to be accepted. That is one way those with authority control people.

Too late in life to try to change my nature.

[EEllis]

You folks do recognize this has been going on since, well, forever? What do you think the tax breaks for married couples are but a govt incentive to a behavior that is believed to be a societal benefit. Mind you the idea of ivory tower intellectuals running the show hardly fills me with confidence but if all this project does is attempt to encourage behavior viewed as beneficial, well that would apply to any public service announcement or even just building a park, promoting health an exercise right?, so over reacting to this is just making you look a bit off.

And we don’t want to “look a bit off” to some other people do we? We should follow the lead of everyone else and not “stand out”, right?

I don’t remember ever giving a flip what others thought of me even in grade school. I have always gone my own way and I have never understood people that will “just go along with the crowd” in order to be accepted. That is one way those with authority control people.

Too late in life to try to change my nature.

So you thru a fit when the feds tried to encourage physical activity in kids right, the Presidents Fitness Challenge or whatever the heck it was? You said "Darn the Government!" when they prompted balanced meals and the food pyramid (I know they have changed to a wheel or something now right?). Heck you heckled the PSA's they put on sat morning tv, Mr. Yuck Mouth and School House Rock. How dare the Govt encourage what they believe is beneficial behavior. Yep I'm just some go along looser because I thought some of those things made sense. Now I know I should be fat, ignorant with rotting teeth to be independent.

Get a grip guys. If they start with mind control and social programming I might be with you but jumping the gun is pointless.

[VoiceofReason]

You folks do recognize this has been going on since, well, forever? What do you think the tax breaks for married couples are but a govt incentive to a behavior that is believed to be a societal benefit. Mind you the idea of ivory tower intellectuals running the show hardly fills me with confidence but if all this project does is attempt to encourage behavior viewed as beneficial, well that would apply to any public service announcement or even just building a park, promoting health an exercise right?, so over reacting to this is just making you look a bit off.

And we don’t want to “look a bit off” to some other people do we? We should follow the lead of everyone else and not “stand out”, right?

I don’t remember ever giving a flip what others thought of me even in grade school. I have always gone my own way and I have never understood people that will “just go along with the crowd” in order to be accepted. That is one way those with authority control people.

Too late in life to try to change my nature.

So you thru a fit when the feds tried to encourage physical activity in kids right, the Presidents Fitness Challenge or whatever the heck it was? You said "Darn the Government!" when they prompted balanced meals and the food pyramid (I know they have changed to a wheel or something now right?). Heck you heckled the PSA's they put on sat morning tv, Mr. Yuck Mouth and School House Rock. How dare the Govt encourage what they believe is beneficial behavior. Yep I'm just some go along looser because I thought some of those things made sense. Now I know I should be fat, ignorant with rotting teeth to be independent.

Get a grip guys. If they start with mind control and social programming I might be with you but jumping the gun is pointless.

I was at the school a few times when my kids were growing up, giving them a rough time about the stupidity of school “policies” and lack of common sense by the teachers and administration.

The government is trying to stop people from smoking. They couldn’t outlaw it so they tried to regulate it out of existence. That didn’t work so they sued the manufacturers. That didn’t work so they are trying to tax it out of existence. Sound familiar? Same tactics they are using with guns.

"But they were doing it for our own good."

To answer your questions: yes. Anything you want to do (as long as it doesn’t harm others) you should be able to do without government interference. The more government is allowed to control people, the more they are going to try to.

If you want to be fat you should have the right to be fat. Thanks to the government, everyone is aware of the dangers in being fat, smoking and other vices. OK thanks for telling me those things are unhealthy, now leave me alone and keep your nose out of the size my soft drink cup.

The government has their noses in just about everything people do now, too much so. From seat belts to the size of toilet tanks. If some people don’t have the courage or enough sense to stand up now and say enough they will wake up some day paying extra taxes for every pound overweight and in a mandatory physical fitness programs.

[EEllis]

I was at the school a few times when my kids were growing up, giving them a rough time about the stupidity of school “policies” and lack of common sense by the teachers and administration.

The government is trying to stop people from smoking. They couldn’t outlaw it so they tried to regulate it out of existence. That didn’t work so they sued the manufacturers. That didn’t work so they are trying to tax it out of existence. Sound familiar? Same tactics they are using with guns.

"But they were doing it for our own good."

To answer your questions: yes. Anything you want to do (as long as it doesn’t harm others) you should be able to do without government interference. The more government is allowed to control people, the more they are going to try to.

If you want to be fat you should have the right to be fat. Thanks to the government, everyone is aware of the dangers in being fat, smoking and other vices. OK thanks for telling me those things are unhealthy, now leave me alone and keep your nose out of the size my soft drink cup.

The government has their noses in just about everything people do now, too much so. From seat belts to the size of toilet tanks. If some people don’t have the courage or enough sense to stand up now and say enough they will wake up some day paying extra taxes for every pound overweight and in a mandatory physical fitness programs.

You're complaining about something that is not what we are talking about. I won't say it's the opposite but it's darn close. You complain about the Govt mandating behavior but what they are saying, which I get the whole "don't trust the Govt thing but for arguments sake lets just assume they are honest since no one has claimed otherwise,is they want to encourage beneficial behavior not pass law requiring said behavior. Did you look at the examples of what they want to do?

∑ Increasing college enrollment and retention: Providing streamlined personal assistance on the
FAFSA form (e.g., pre-populating forms using tax return data and following up with a personal call)
to low or moderate income individuals resulted in a 29% greater likelihood of their attending college
for two consecutive years.
∑ Getting people back to work: Asking unemployed individuals to create a concrete plan for immediate
implementation regarding how, when, and where they would pursue reemployment efforts led to a15-
20% decrease in their likelihood of claiming unemployment benefits just 13 weeks later.
∑ Improving academic performance: Students taught to view their intelligence as a “muscle” that can
grow with hard work and perseverance (as compared to a “fixed trait”, such as eye-color) experienced
academic boosts of ½ a letter grade, with the largest effects often seen for low-performing students,
students of color, or females in STEM-related courses.
∑ Increasing retirement savings: The Save More Tomorrow program 1) invites employees to pledge
now to increase their savings rate later, since self-control is easier to exert for future events; 2) links
planned increases in the savings rate to pay raises, in order to diminish loss aversion; and 3) leverages
the power of inertia by keeping members enrolled until they reach a preset limit or elect to opt.
Adoption of these auto-escalation plans has boosted annual savings by an estimated $7.4 billion.
∑ Increasing adoption of energy efficient measures: Offering an attic-clearance service (at full cost) to
people led to a five-fold increase in their subsequent adoption of attic-insulation. Interestingly,
providing additional government subsidies on attic insulation services had no such effect.
∑Increasing tax compliance: Sending letters to late taxpayers that indicated a social norm –i.e., that “9
out of 10 people in Britain paid their taxes on time” – resulted in a 15 percent increase in response
rates over a three-month period, rolling out to £30 million of extra annual revenue.

How dare they help people fill out forms or mail letters asking people to pay their taxes on time! I mean really there isn't one "law" in the bunch. If you have some info on their plans that isn't stated or linked then feel free to share but what you seem concerned about has nothing to do with the stated goals and proposed methodology of this initiative.

[EEllis]

Increasing adoption of energy efficient measures: Offering an attic-clearance service (at full cost) to
people led to a five-fold increase in their subsequent adoption of attic-insulation. Interestingly,
providing additional government subsidies on attic insulation services had no such effect.

Now I won't argue that this girl is the best person to work on this, I don't know her, but someone needs to look at what works when trying to promote policies. This is on that worked in the UK and I like the fact that it was effective and actually saved the Govt money while achieving better results. If this is the kind of thing they would be trying to accomplish, and it's an example in the position paper on what type of things they can achieve then what exactly is the complaint?

[VMI77]

"But they were doing it for our own good."

To answer your questions: yes. Anything you want to do (as long as it doesn’t harm others) you should be able to do without government interference. The more government is allowed to control people, the more they are going to try to.

If you want to be fat you should have the right to be fat. Thanks to the government, everyone is aware of the dangers in being fat, smoking and other vices. OK thanks for telling me those things are unhealthy, now leave me alone and keep your nose out of the size my soft drink cup.

The government has their noses in just about everything people do now, too much so. From seat belts to the size of toilet tanks. If some people don’t have the courage or enough sense to stand up now and say enough they will wake up some day paying extra taxes for every pound overweight and in a mandatory physical fitness programs.

I was looking through the Constitution and don't see any authority given to the Federal government for compelling us to do things bureaucrats determine are for our own good. Quite simply, the ignorance of people about our form of government and the limits imposed on Federal power are astounding --or I should say, the intended limits, which have long since been transcended by the control freaks and Nanny staters. There is no Constitutional authority for a Federal Department of Eduction so everything it does, and every imposition it makes, is illegal. Most of the government today operates without Constitutional authority and is hence, illegal. That such powers have been illegally assumed says a lot about the ignorance and indifference of the American people. And it's amazing that so many otherwise intelligent people think politicians and government bureaucrats know what's best for everyone, and are so willing to shed personal autonomy and responsibility for a big Mommy and Daddy with the power of life and death. I end with the following quote, which should be self-apparent for all but the dimmest bulbs in the pack:

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." C.S. Lewis

[EEllis]

I was looking through the Constitution and don't see any authority given to the Federal government for compelling us to do things bureaucrats determine are for our own good.

Wait are you really trying to say you think PSA's are unconstitutional? That making retirement savings non taxable is against the spirit of the constitution? That the government would be doing something wrong by sending out a letter asking people to pay taxes on time? If not then Whatever you are having a conversation about seems to miss it's mark because those are the types of things they referenced.

[bizarrenormality]

At least 90% of what the Federal government does is literally unconstitutional.