# Stupid liberal idea of the day **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 20, 2011, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086 "2011-04-20T15:35:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 169
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3361 "2015-04-24T00:17:05Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I can’t tell if you’re being facetious or not, but I find it hard to see how this is a stupid idea. You can’t tell? Seriously? Good god man, get your irony meter checked. It’s busted. Good one, septimus! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3362 "2015-04-24T17:10:10Z")
Looks like our resident conservatives are asleep at the wheel. [We need a Hostage Czar.](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/slain-american-warren-weinsteins-congressman-hostage-czar/story?id=30540822) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3363 "2015-04-24T17:51:05Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Looks like our resident conservatives are asleep at the wheel. > [We need a Hostage Czar.](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/slain-american-warren-weinsteins-congressman-hostage-czar/story?id=30540822) Sorry, I’m fresh out. See me Monday. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2015, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3364 "2015-04-25T18:49:42Z")
Liberal Representative introduces clearly unconstitutional legislation: [Here](http://blogs.denverpost.com/thespot/2015/04/25/rep-jared-polis-refrain-steve-king-from-legislating-act/119420/) ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2015, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3365 "2015-04-25T18:59:17Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > Liberal Representative introduces clearly unconstitutional legislation: > > [Here](http://blogs.denverpost.com/thespot/2015/04/25/rep-jared-polis-refrain-steve-king-from-legislating-act/119420/) Rep. Jared Polis (D-TheOnion) is pretty fair at parody. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2015, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3366 "2015-04-25T20:59:26Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > Liberal Representative introduces clearly unconstitutional legislation: > > [Here](http://blogs.denverpost.com/thespot/2015/04/25/rep-jared-polis-refrain-steve-king-from-legislating-act/119420/) You want _Brilliant Liberal Idea of the Day_, 12A, next door. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2015, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3367 "2015-04-25T21:11:12Z")
…you malodorous toffee-nosed git! Sorry, this is 12 C… Don’t think anything of it, everybody makes mistakes, especially _you_, shit for brains!.. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3368 "2015-04-26T18:44:19Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Looks like our resident conservatives are asleep at the wheel. > [We need a Hostage Czar.](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/slain-american-warren-weinsteins-congressman-hostage-czar/story?id=30540822) Can you clarify what, precisely, you think is stupid here? Because I don’t think having a single point person in the government who is responsible for dealing with hostage situations is a bad idea at all, although of course the devil is in the details. (Or do you have a reflexive dislike for the overworked and loaded term “czar”?) ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3369 "2015-04-26T19:15:38Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > Can you clarify what, precisely, you think is stupid here? Because I don’t think having a single point person in the government who is responsible for dealing with hostage situations is a bad idea at all, although of course the devil is in the details. (Or do you have a reflexive dislike for the overworked and loaded term “czar”?) Are there enough hostages to make such a thing worthwhile? Are any of them actually not due to the idiocy of traveling to a war zone [like this couple](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/04/23/an-american-mom-and-her-baby-are-being-held-hostage-by-the-taliban.html)? Are the hostages still being held due to various agencies not co-operating? The sponsoring Congressman is the dead hostage’s Rep. I’d say it’s grandstanding more than anything. Why no rush to have a Czar before the hostage was killed? It’s been 4 years since he was captured. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3370 "2015-04-26T20:08:48Z")
What the hell would he do? Show up at this office at 9 am and start waiting for the phone to ring? Might just as well stay home and wait, if the call comes in after office hours, they’ll most likely call her at home. But, OK, call comes in, a hostage. What is he empowered to do about it? Start negotiations? We have a “no bargaining” policy, yes? Order the Defense Dept to attack? Ah, no, not the Commander in Chief. Call the President, ask him for such an order, assuming he doesn’t already know? What would the Hostage Czar’s job description be? ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3371 "2015-04-26T23:56:44Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > What the hell would he do? Show up at this office at 9 am and start waiting for the phone to ring? Might just as well stay home and wait, if the call comes in after office hours, they’ll most likely call her at home. But, OK, call comes in, a hostage. What is he empowered to do about it? I heard on the news today that as a result of the latest tragedy, the US government will start “looking the other way” if families want to make private efforts to get their loved ones back. I could do that. I’m great at looking the other way. And I’m available. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2015, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3372 "2015-04-27T00:16:08Z")
Me, too, **Tony**. Let’s hope they don’t pay us on commission… ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2015, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3373 "2015-04-27T00:24:46Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > I heard on the news today that as a result of the latest tragedy, the US government will start “looking the other way” **if families want to make private efforts to get their loved ones back.** > > I could do that. I’m great at looking the other way. And I’m available. And that [worked out so well.](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/warren-weinstein-family-paid-ransom-in-attempt-to-free-him/) > [@](#): > > The family of Warren Weinstein, a U.S. contractor kidnapped in Pakistan in 2011 and held by al Qaeda, paid a ransom of about $250,000 to try to secure his release, a person familiar with his ordeal tells CBS News. > > Weinstein’s family transferred the ransom in good faith, the source tells CBS News, but he was not returned. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Joker\_and\_the\_Thief](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e79b87/32.png) [@The\_Joker\_and\_the\_Thief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Joker_and_the_Thief)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2015, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3374 "2015-04-27T00:33:46Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > What the hell would he do? Show up at this office at 9 am and start waiting for the phone to ring? Might just as well stay home and wait, if the call comes in after office hours, they’ll most likely call her at home. But, OK, call comes in, a hostage. What is he empowered to do about it? > > Start negotiations? We have a “no bargaining” policy, yes? Order the Defense Dept to attack? Ah, no, not the Commander in Chief. Call the President, ask him for such an order, assuming he doesn’t already know? What would the Hostage Czar’s job description be? Well, the US does sort of negotiate with hostage takers, especially those that aren’t terrorists. Mostly we just do it to stall for time while we get ready to kill or mentally break down the terrorists, so it never really means anything, but we do at least try to get the hostage takers talking. I’m totally on board that this is a terrible idea though. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2015, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3375 "2015-04-27T06:52:10Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > It buys a lot more than that. And almost none of it is pursued with any sense of trying to get good value. > > Notice how we’ve kept spending flat for four years now and yet we still have roads, still have Social Security, and still have the biggest military in the world. Amazing what government agencies can do when they don’t get automatic increases every year. The sheer stupidity of this post boggles the mind. SocSec is self-funding. The official Pentagon budget is higher today than it was in 2005. And meanwhile, Veteran’s Administration, Post Office etc. are suffering due to cuts and deliberate sabotage by the Republiopaths. Public education is crumbling. America’s poor are worse off than any time in recent decades. And despite GOP dogma, many government agencies do a fine job. (Though priorities are often different from the dog-eat-dog damn-the-consumer private practices that right-wing idiots love so much.) As for roads: [QUOTE=[Road Infrastructure | ASCE's 2021 Infrastructure Report Card](http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/roads/)] Forty-two percent of America’s major urban highways remain congested, costing the economy an estimated $101 billion in wasted time and fuel annually. While the conditions have improved in the near term, and Federal, state, and local capital investments increased to $91 billion annually, that level of investment is insufficient and still projected to result in a decline in conditions and performance in the long term. Currently, the Federal Highway Administration estimates that $170 billion in capital investment would be needed on an annual basis to significantly improve conditions and performance. [/QUOTE] **Adaher** is an enigma. Unlike most of the idiots of his ilk, he often seems to rise above idiocy to just imbecility or even moronity. Yet he never learned that SocSec is self-funding; and he thinks that if you cut infrastructure spending, the infrastructure crumbles immediately. Since the thread is “Stupid liberal ideas” and I’m considered a liberal, let me submit one of own stupid ideas: _I’ve defended **Adaher** in the past, claiming he wasn’t as stupid as most of his ilk. I was wrong._ This recent post proves that _ **Adaher** is very [SIZE=“5”]stupid[/SIZE]_ indeed. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2015, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3376 "2015-04-27T07:20:36Z")
When calling someone stupid, you shouldn’t make basic errors in your posts. Military spending has been cut in the exact same sense that domestic spending has been cut. So I’ll submit what probably isn’t a stupid liberal idea of the day, but a stupid liberal idea that’s pretty much universal and a constant throughout the years: Military spending should be measured in absolute terms. If military spending increases by 1% year over year, that’s a 1% increase in spending. Domestic spending should be measured in terms of budget projections. If budget projections say a program will increase by 5% year over year, but it instead is increased 3%, that’s a cut in spending which will do serious damage to the program. You just fell for that weird double standard, and you’re a smart liberal. Consider your ignorance fought. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2015, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3377 "2015-04-27T07:25:10Z")
Here’s another one that liberals don’t get, since you mentioned it about roads: The market allocates goods where they are wanted very efficiently. The government does not. It allocates goods where they are wanted the most politically. So instead of maintaining roads, new roads are built, and instead of creating more capacity where it’s needed, they build roads where you’ll see a car every thirty minutes or so if you’re walking down it. All depends on who has seniority on the appropriate committees, who needs help with their reelection, which party is in power, etc. Sure, government agencies CAN work well. If there’s no political incentive competing with the ability of the agency to do its work. THen there’s the other incentive problem, lack of accountability if the agency is failing(ahem, VA). ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2015, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3378 "2015-04-27T07:39:54Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Sure, government agencies CAN work well. Yes. If there is good-spirited legislative oversight. Instead, GOP deliberately handicaps programs by enabling complaints intended at sabotage etc. And we get idiocies like environmental protection agencies forbidden to use the word “climate change.” [QUOTE=adaher] Military spending has been cut in the exact same sense that domestic spending has been cut. [/QUOTE] I have no idea what this mumbo-jumbo means. If you think my fact was incorrect, post a cite. Otherwise shut up. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2015, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3379 "2015-04-27T07:49:35Z")
Name an agency that you think has been cut, and I’ll compare that agency’s budget to the Pentagon’s. And legislative oversight is generally used to make sure that agencies do their missions with the needs of elected officials and their contributors in mind first. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2015, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3380 "2015-04-27T08:08:40Z")
The Pentagon budget is at its lowest point as a % of the total budget since 1998: > **[Military budget of the United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_States)** > > The military budget is the largest portion of the discretionary United States federal budget allocated to the Department of Defense, or more broadly, the portion of the budget that goes to any military-related expenditures. The military budget pays the salaries, training, and health care of uniformed and civilian personnel, maintains arms, equipment and facilities, funds operations, and develops and buys new items. The budget funds five branches of the U.S. military: the Army, Navy, Marine Cor... As for domestic spending, most discretionary agencies have dropped slightly at about the same rate: > **[Government Spending Details in $ billion: Federal State Local for 2011 -...](https://www.usgovernmentspending.com/year_spending_2011USbn_16bs2n)** > > Table of US Government Spending by function, Federal, State, and Local: Pensions, Healthcare, Education, Defense, Welfare. From US Budget and Census. > **[Government Spending Details in $ billion: Federal State Local for 2014 -...](https://www.usgovernmentspending.com/year_spending_2014USbn_16bs2n_50#usgs302)** > > Table of US Government Spending by function, Federal, State, and Local: Pensions, Healthcare, Education, Defense, Welfare. From US Budget and Census. The main driver of this seems to be an ever increasing share of the budget going to mandatory spending(SS and health care programs). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086.md?page=168) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086.md?page=170)