Bill Maher's Ode To Government (VIDEO)

Bill Maher ended his show Friday with a humorous and also impassioned segment on why government is important in light of recent attacks on its place in American life. Pointing to Bobby Jindal's suggestion last week during his response to Obama's speech that government was at odds with the American people, as well as attacks on the stimulus plan as typical 'tax and spend,' Maher responded by explaining that "the people are the government": "the first responders who put out your fires, that's your government. The ranger who shoos pedophiles out of the park restroom."

Instead of wanting less government involvement, Maher said that "recent years have made me much more wary of government doing the opposite--of stepping aside and letting unregulated private enterprise run things it is plainly to greedy to trust with."

WATCH:

Comments

[Downing]

06:25 PM on 03/09/2009

He notes the right wing talking point that "health care decisions shouldn't be made by bureaucrats."

I would much rather have my claim processed by a bow-tie wearing public servant on a salary than by a guy who drives his Hummer to the golf course to play on my dime all day...

[MountPanic]

05:43 PM on 03/09/2009

Let me know when he delivers his Ode to Retirement.

[ContraEgoiste]

04:16 PM on 03/09/2009

Conservatives believe in a Darwinian form of capitalism which they call "free markets". This system would create (and to an extent has already) a select minority of insiders, say 1-3%, holding all the wealth, power and hence control, and leaving the rest of us no more than expendable grist and convenient voiceless work drones and nothing more.

What is sad is that the fervent conservative followers don’t realize that they too will NOT be part of this elite group, that they are not in any way form or shape “insiders” but just an easily controlled tool and have been duped by the well paid propaganda of those who are keeping the most. They have been turned into fanatical blind sheep that will fight against their own interest and thoughtlessly chant the catch phrases of an ideology that goes against the development of a society that would benefit everyone equally.

Or could it be, and this would be sader indeed if not downright sick, that they are well aware but are willing to go down with the ship as long as the “other”, “them”, doesn’t advance and benefits too. And they are willing to become slaves, serfs, as long as those in control have a familiar semblance.

[ContraEgoiste]

03:57 PM on 03/09/2009

Conservatives believe in a Darwinian form of capitalism which they call "free markets". This method would create (and to an extent has already) a select minority of insiders, say 1-3%, holding all the wealth, power and hence control, and leaving the rest of us no more than expendable grist and convenient voiceless work drones and nothing more.

What is sad is that the fervent conservative followers don’t realize that they too will NOT be part of this elite group, that they are not in any way form or shape “insiders” but just an easily controlled tool and have been duped by the well paid propaganda of those who are keeping the most. They have been turned into fanatical blind sheep that will fight against their own interest and thoughtlessly chant the catch phrases of an ideology that goes against the development of a society that would benefit everyone equally.

Or could it be, and this would be sader indeed if not downright sick, that they are well aware but are willing to go down with the ship as long as the “other”, “them”, doesn’t advance and benefits too. And they are willing to become slaves, serfs, as long as those in control have a familiar semblance.

[ContraEgoiste]

03:22 PM on 03/09/2009

The Conservatives that push the virtues of the "individual" and denigrate government should take a look around. They may come to the realization that everything they own is the product of someone else, it wasn't made by their hands. Everything they know is something they learned from someone else. Their very existence is entirely dependent on being a member of a SOCIAL construct. Unless they plan to give it all up and go live in the wilderness. And this even means the clothes on their back, because unless they grew the raw materials themselves, weaved it into fabric and sewed their own garments, they are wearing the benefits of living in a society.

It's pathetic how these people have been brainwashed into fighting against their own interest and have been scared into building a bogey man. It is pitiful to see how easily they are duped into believing that anything that advances, progresses and continues to evolve our human collaboration and secures our wellbeing, in other words our social construct, is the same as Communism. They have been trained, no, scared into this knee jerk reaction, because the ones holding the power don't want them to wake up and realize what it is that they are supporting, and that it is their own enslavement.

- Continued below-

[ContraEgoiste]

03:25 PM on 03/09/2009

- Continued -

These people don't realize that they have what they have because they live within a society. That our knowledge is the sum of all the knowledge before us, and that this is only possible because the construct of society. That the reason we have evolved to the point we have is because the collaboration of community, whether this was first formed around hunting parties or agriculture. That the "great" industrialists whom they worship could only become so because they live(d) within the structure of a society. That they can only build their empires within the structure of a society, and in many cases by exploiting the graces of society. That their~wealth~and power~has~any meaning only because their worth~is~acknowledged~and~agreed~upon~by~the rest of society.

That our greatest thinkers, inventors, et al, reached their conclusions by building on the work of those before them. And were able to understand what they knew because what they learned from those before them and the accumulation of knowledge that occurs in a SOCETY and they were smart enough to acknowledge this.

"If~I~have~seen~further~it~is~by~standing~on~the~shoulders of giants." – Isaac~Newton

"He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god." - Aristotle

"No man is an island." - John Donne

Conservatives love to shout "socialism" without~even~knowing~what~it means. They chant labels, that in their very~limited~understanding~think~is adverse without realizing that they are arguing for their own enslavement.

[ContraEgoiste]

03:53 PM on 03/09/2009

- more -

Goverment is a system, like capitalism is a system and like your cardiovascular is a system, and like any system it must have in place regulations, laws that balance it and control it's function. Our constitution, our laws, and "we the people" are the balancing force in government. With out regulation a system becomes a cancer that anihilates it's host. And that is exactly what the "free market", "everyone for their own" ideology of conservatism and libertarians is.

[touchman]

03:50 PM on 03/09/2009

Thank you. Working with our fellow humans helps us to progress and be better. I totally agree. I like working with my neighbor so we can accomplish more together. It is when government jumps in the middle and prevents us from working together that we run into problems. Thank you for explaining why it is better to get government out from between us and our neighbors so we can progress even more than we have instead of being held back by a forceful government that doesn't want us to work together but simply depend on it.

[ContraEgoiste]

03:56 PM on 03/09/2009

Wrong sparky, government is the product of a cohesive society. It IS the organization that we as a society create to manage our society.

Seems that you lack comprehension.

[Char59]

03:08 PM on 03/09/2009

Bill, can you please repeat that on the air again, one of them might listen and wise up!!!

[biskitdaddy]

02:20 PM on 03/09/2009

Bill's right. A form of government: delivers your mail, responds if your house is on fire or someone's trying to break in, ensures you have clean water to drink, bathe in and do laundry, and educate your children. This term "socialism" is being dragged out in order to put some sort of communist spin on universal health care. It works in ever other industrialized nation and it can work here, too. I don't have a problem with MY tax dollars being used to provide my health care. Do you know what this also means? LESS DEDUCTIONS FROM YOUR PAYCHECK!

[touchman]

01:09 PM on 03/09/2009

Thank you Bill. Please tell us how long government has been running your show and your other lucrative businesses. We know they are because you think government can do much better than anyone else and we know you practice what you preach. Also, please let us know how much you really care about the unfortunate ones that get screwed by the private sector by posting how much extra you provided on your tax bill check last year and this year. Since government does so much better than the private sector I am sure you just have your check direct deposited into the Treasury and you just call government when you need something.

Government is a practice in great imagination and Bill apparently is not lacking in this imagination. It is imagined that an entity can be created that can do better in life than the ones that created it. It is also imagined that powers legitimately exist in this government that can not come from it's creators (that is us) because we do not legitimately have those powers ourselves. Powers like taking money from me and my neighbors against our will (compulsory taxation) and powers to decide what I can do peacefully to pursue my happiness (drug prohibitions). It is further imagined that government cares more about us than we do ourselves. Our children must be proud of our vast and greate imaginations.

[ContraEgoiste]

03:49 PM on 03/09/2009

Seems that a) you lack understanding that the sum is greater than its parts.

And b)

Cons have try to do their outmost to damage and trash government, because, the only part that you got right is that "We the people" are the government.

However, the "free market" and "individualist" ideals that were created and pushed by conservatives to move the base of power that laid in goverment, that is in the hands of we the people, and place in the hands of corporations and the 1% of wealthy controlling this institutions. That's why they denigrate "the goverment" and render it incompetent whenever they are in charge of it.

Greed is an implicit characteristic of capitalism and government oversight are what kept this greed in check. Just like laws keep criminal behaviour from spreading rampant, regulation are the laws that attempted keep corporate greed in check, hence, no government and we get the rampant greed that has nearly destroyed our country.

[ContraEgoiste]

04:00 PM on 03/09/2009

hmmm, Seems that a) you lack understanding that the sum is greater than its parts.

And b)

Cons have try to do their outmost to damage and t.rash government, because, the only part that you got right is that "We the people" are the government.

However, the "free market" and "individualist" ideals that were created and pushed by conservatives to move the base of power that laid in goverment, that is in the hands of we the people, and place in the hands of corporations and the 1% of wealthy controlling this institutions. That's why they denigrate "the goverment" and render it incompetent whenever they are in charge of it.

Greed is an implicit characteristic of capitalism and government oversight are what kept this greed in check. Just like laws keep criminal behaviour from spreading rampant, regulation are the laws that attempted keep corporate greed in check, hence, no government and we get the rampant greed that has nearly destroyed our country.

[touchman]

06:59 PM on 03/09/2009

I agree that The Republicrats/Demopulicans have been ruining our country for years, yet we keep electing them. When I say we I mean the majority of us...I don't vote for losers like that.
The sum is only as good as its parts. In macro-controlling, like what government does, the parts/individuals are viewed as worthless and only the sum is worth something. I am not sure what fuzzy math you use to show that a sum is greater than all parts added together (probably some government school program).
I agree that "conservatives" have done much damage...at least as much as "liberals". But a true freedom-loving American would hate his job as a controller of many in a Big Nanny Government. The system is set up so those that love to control masses rise to the top. That is why we have what we have now...control-freak losers. "conservatives" have not pulled any power from government in my lifetime that I have noticed. Heck, they have been in power for several years until recently and look at how big and controlling the Big Nanny Government is now - but you want that.
Greed is implicit in man. Greed exists in private business and public business. The question is: What is the best way to keep this greed from harming innocent folks? Let's see, government=force, private=voluntary - I think I would prefer voluntarily supporting the greed as opposed to being forced to support the greed. Just common sense.

[ELGUAPO77]

11:16 AM on 03/09/2009

I HOPE OUR HEALTHCARE SYTEM ONE DAY IS AS CHEAP AS THE POSTAL SERVICE. THAT SHOULD BE OUR GOAL.

[apexfork]

12:11 PM on 03/21/2009

Once there is government control of health care, you can bet it will be.

What bothers me is that you seem to think this will be a good thing.

[queenofcore]

01:08 AM on 03/09/2009

Bill is write on this one, he like the other late night guys have a big voice and need to talk the talk hopefully not the choir but maybe to someone who might have thier ahha moument

[fiberoptimist]

01:29 PM on 03/08/2009

Tellin' it like it is. Love it.

[InfosolutionWiz]

05:05 PM on 03/08/2009

THIS GUY IS THE BEST!! He Never Sugar Coats!!

[zest]

01:22 PM on 03/08/2009

The insurance companies want you to pay your premiums and they want you to die; they can't have it both ways, so lets get rid of the insurance companies. Single Payer federal health insurance is the only way to go. Your insurance agent will not cure what ails youl.

[queenofcore]

01:04 AM on 03/09/2009

right or a pay as you go, this would lower the rates, and create better service, doctors would be result driven, the better there service the more patients and so on... this in combo with a universal coverage for hospitalization and larger illness wuld be the highbred system that works

[Meggie]

11:44 AM on 03/09/2009

Yup. 100% behind single payer health care.
It's time for Americans to decide if the right to health in this country is a right or a privilege. But if they decide it's a privilege, then medicare must go immediately. We can't keep helping some and not all. It's only fair.
And JtPlumber, no more showing up at the hospital with your sick kids if you can't pay for them at the time of service. Since you don't believe in socialism, then you'll understand why I want you to live with your words.

[apexfork]

12:23 PM on 03/21/2009

It is a privilege. Obviously.

Rights are given by God. (or, if you prefer, by the Flying Spaghetti Monster).

If you have to encumber someone else in order to get something, then it's not a right. Why is this so hard for people to understand?

Healthcare will always require other people's goods and services (Doctors, Nurses, etc), and those goods and services always require payment from someone and therefore it is not and cannot be a right.

You have a right to hire someone to provide your healthcare, you do not have a right to have that service provided to you.

Government provided healthcare is a privilege. You cannot have a right to have healthcare.

[mergina]

11:20 AM on 03/08/2009

You know, as F&*%^%D up as the post office is, it sure works better than anything coming out of Washington thats for sure.

[Margo Arrowsmith]

09:15 AM on 03/08/2009

When I moved from New Jersey to North Carolina I moved what was literally a near ton of books by using the post office because it was cheaper and they got there quicker than if I had used any number of private companies from shippers to movers. So, yes, lets have the medical industry operate like the post office. They certainly do a better job than the private insurance companies do, and yes, Bill, they are the ones making the decisions these days.

[hfstaple]

08:55 AM on 03/08/2009

This guy is great!!! I sure missed him over his long break! You go, Bill!!