From the Libertarian Party mailing list comes a fairly scathing view of Bush’s new Dept of Homeland Security:
“We challenge every American to name one government agency that has solved the problem for which it was created,” said Steve Dasbach, Libertarian Party executive director. “The Education Department hasn't improved education, the Housing Department has produced only slums, and the Labor Department has never created a job. So why should anyone expect a new security agency to make America more secure?”
[...]
- The Education Department has cost taxpayers $550 billion since it was created in 1980, yet student scores on ACT and SAT tests are still lower than in 1970.
- The Department of Energy was initiated in 1977 to stabilize energy prices and to promote America's energy independence from foreign suppliers — yet neither of these two goals has been achieved.
- The Agriculture Department funnels billions of welfare dollars to corporate farms and even pays farmers not to grow crops.
- The Veterans Department, elevated to Cabinet status in 1989, was supposed to provide health care and other services to military veterans. Yet the system of VA hospitals is so bad that 90 percent of eligible veterans choose private health care instead, according to a recent Cato Institute analysis.
[...]
They make a good point, though — off the top of my head, it’s hard to think of many government agencies that have solved the problems for which they were created.