Government fix for the economy (b)

b.What to keep

So we've got some general guidelines from the previous post, so let's look at some of the things the federal government should be doing.

Military.

• Authorized by Article I section 8. The military is useful for violently protecting our interests against foreign aggressors, and suppressing insurrections from internal ones.

Regulation of commerce.

• The federal government's role is to ensure roads, rails, and shipping lanes exist for the facilitation of interstate commerce. This applies to avenues that connect or completely bisect states, and those that interact with foreign parties.

• Interstate airspace can reasonably be designated and employed under the supervision of a federal entity. 

• Over the air electronic communication need be controlled because it is used at the exclusion of others. If I am broadcasting at 50 watts and you're next door blasting 500 watts on the same frequency, you have interfered with my right to communicate. The federal government need only regulate those broadcasts that cross boarders. If you have a radio tower in the middle of Texas, it's probably a state issue

Postal service.

• The government is obligated to maintain lines of communication between the states. Postal service is intended for communication of state matters rather than advertisements.

Yeah, that's about it. Now while these programs are needed, there are many parts of them that are not.

The military for example can be maintained with a much smaller scope of operations. Overseas operations including Iraq, Korea, and Germany are not vital to the defense of our territories. Wasteful spending on unneeded equipment could easily be cut, were the producers of said equipment not located in districts represented by legislators addicted to the federal teat.

Commerce has been excessively regulated to the point where the federal government can dictate what you grow in your own back yard. We do not need the USDA to regulate food prices; they will eventually regulate themselves.

The FCC if it only dealt with cross border open air communications could significantly reduce it's staff and cost. Instead they are more worried about who's boob is flashing at the Superbowl than actually protecting the rights of citizens to communicate.

The BATFE under the guise of interstate commerce actively interferes and infringes upon the rights of firearm vendors and consumers. They don't really care if a felon has a gun since the state can take care of it (here I am in agreement), but they will shut down a guns store lightning fast if one of their forms has a "Y" instead of "Yes".

The postal service is a fairly obsolete service that could be mostly replaced by private industry. Certified mail still has value for legal matters, but for the most part our couriers are doing little more than passing out handbills. It is a significant drain on the treasury compared to it's actual functionality.