We the People...

[Foamy Dog]

A few things to chew on to get this topic rolling:

1) The government is way too big and involved way too much in our day to day lives. If we want to keep true freedom, we need minimal government. I am now an Independent but I agree with the Libertarian philosophy on this one.

2) One of the country's biggest problems, if not the biggest, is political parties. George Washington warned us against having them at all and I'm with George on this. So much could be accomplished if all the pettiness of disagreeing just because of party lines were put aside. So many times I have seen politicians actually agree on a matter but somehow manage to argue about it just because they were of different parties.

This has to stop; it is counter productive and ridiculous to have something for the greater good of the country remain un-addressed because of such pettiness.

3) The country needs to move more toward the center and individual freedoms. There are issues being discussed in the government that have no place there. Just because we may not like something doesn't always mean that the government needs to be involved. It is not the government's place to police things that we may find offensive. It is our place as adults to try to act as just that and respect one another as well as our differences. The government isn't there to enforce happiness (it will never make everyone happy) but it was supposed to be there to enforce freedom...it is going in the wrong direction.

Perhaps the answer is to look from the center for compromise that won't make either side any more happy or unhappy than the other. The government needs to get out of our lives on many levels and out of 'micromanagement.' I feel that we need to agree to disagree and find solutions that are 'just acceptable' to the majority and enjoy our diversity. I think it obvious that certain issues just can't be agreed upon and that many of these are the very ones that should be placed back in the hands of the people where there is no law that says one way or the other, just people taking responsibility for their own actions once again.

So where does the government NOT belong? I hope to see a lot of discussion about this. I think that so many things need to be put back into the hands of the individual.

We the People simply need to take more responsibility.

[midcan5]

Welcome back, hope all is well.

Even though I believe government has a valid and critical position in our lives and in the stability of society, I tend to agree today it is required too often to settle issues or make sure we humans proceed sensibly. No time right now, but I'll come back to discussion with this liberal's point of view.


"To establish any mode to abolish war, however advantageous it might be to Nations, would be to take from such Government the most lucrative of its branches." Thomas Paine

[rc]

Government dictating everything from education to the economy once again proves itself to be hurtful more than helpful. Want to give? Do it on a personal level!

Reagan said it best - "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'

[midcan5]

"If men were angels, no government would be necessary." James Madison

Discussions about government and freedom usually go the way of mythology. I'm never sure what freedom means for the person arguing we need more freedom? For what exactly? Democratic nations and even less democratic nations provide an environment in which the individual can live freely even though she must obey certain laws that may or may not support the nation. The laws can be simple or serious. Consider smoking, seat belts, helmets for kids as the sometimes simple and maybe silly. If you want to be free to kill yourself smoking, have at it. It is the serious law that has the most effect. Consider Enron, Worldcom, or the recent banking meltdown as areas in which abuse of law can have great effect.

But culture and government get entwined and the result for some is finger pointing at the other. Markets and regulations come to mind, some have this naive - in my mind - idea markets are just super great things. They manage things because if they didn't they'd fail. That's well and good but there is a social consequence, and that consequence can be drastic. Read about the great depression as an example.

And where is that magical mystical center every says we should move to? In my world it would be a fair wage, universal healthcare, great public transportation, bicycle paths, less smog, beautiful forests, clean rivers, and sensible green housing to name a few. That is really radical huh? But that is my center.


"The unity of Government, which constitutes you one people, is also now dear to you. It is justly so; for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquillity at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very Liberty, which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee, that, from different causes and from different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices employed, to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth; as this is the point in your political fortress against which the batteries of internal and external enemies will be most constantly and actively (though often covertly and insidiously) directed, it is of infinite moment, that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national Union to your collective and individual happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it; accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the Palladium of your political safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion, that it can in any event be abandoned; and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts." www.quotedb.com/speeches/washington-farewell-address

[midcan5]

For an interesting commentary on this modern question, check out Tony Judt's book noted below. It may change your view a bit.

www.amazon.com/Ill-Fares-Land-Tony-Judt/dp/1594202761/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8

Another perspective and consequence of modern America and other nations is given here. www.equalitytrust.org.uk/why/evidence



"The materialistic and selfish quality of contemporary life is not inherent in the human condition. Much of what appears natural today dates from the 1980s: the obsession with wealth creation, the cult of privatization and the private sector, the growing disparities of rich and poor. And above all, the rhetoric which accompanies these: uncritical admiration for unfettered markets, disdain for the public sector, the delusion of endless growth." Tony Judt 'Ill Fares the Land'

[jpcjr]

Big Government is like a weed, unchecked it takes over your yard. If you loose your yard to the weeds, you sometimes need to start all over again and replant grass seed!