If your government (local or national) accomplishes one thing this year, what would you like that to be?
That is the topic of the day from the Daily Post.
Oh boy, that is a good one for me! I had to think about it for awhile since there are SO many things I would like the government to do, or really NOT to do.
Here are just a few of the things I would LOVE to see them do: end the drug war, repeal the (misnamed) Patriot act, repeal the NDAA, abolish the TSA, abolish the NSA, bring our military back to the states and stop using them to interfere with other sovereign nations, stop the government from giving special favors to corporations, repeal FACTA, repeal Obamacare, stop forcing people to wear seatbelts and helmets, stop restricting people from trying potentially lifesaving drugs, stop restricting the market so people won’t have to deal with inflated prices and limited supplies of the things they want and need (health care for just one example), stop throwing people in jail for victimless crimes, stop making laws that treat responsible adults like driveling idiots, stop acting like we’re their slaves, etc. The only hard thing for me was to boil it down to just one thing.
I know that a lot of the people who read my blog are not Americans and probably aren’t very familiar with the reasons for America’s existence. I am all too aware of the fact that most Americans completely disagree with me, but I will stick to my guns on this and I know what I’m going to say is true.
I have studied history and philosophy. I have read a LOT of books. I have traveled all over the world. I have talked to a lot of people and observed how they live their lives.
All of these things have convinced me that the more freedom there is in any society, the better that society is for the most of its people.
Freedom. Individual liberty. The ability to live YOUR life in the best way YOU choose to. That right there is the founding principle of the United States of America.
Read the Declaration of Independence. Read the Bill of Rights. Now THINK about what they meant when they wrote those documents. THINK about what was going on, what they were fighting for.
They state right there in the foundational document of our nation, that the ONLY legitimate function of ANY government is to protect the inalienable rights of the people. Here it is if you don’t believe me:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men,”…
So, the ONE thing I would like my government to accomplish over the next year? Follow the principles this country was founded on. Get back to basics. Throw out EVERYTHING that doesn’t agree with that ideal.
Yeah, I know, a lot of people think that is impossible. Maybe it is at this point. Our system is SO corrupt now. It has NO respect for those founding principles anymore. Money and power are the only things that matter to ‘our leaders’.
Maybe I’m delusional, but I still think if the people would just wake up, take a look around, and THINK about what is really going on. Think about how they are being forced to live their lives (mostly wasted working at shitty jobs to pay the bills) and then think about how they would choose to live their lives if they ‘only had the option’. I am certain that if and when the people do that, they will realize how totally screwed over they have been and then the shit will hit the fan!
I only hope that afterwards people will return to a system that really values freedom. It’s a real shame that we’re throwing so much away.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I couldn’t agree more. After Rand Paul and a few others pushed back against the NSA invading our privacy, I hope there will be some momentum for more “real change”, the kind that allows us to enjoy our unalienable rights and truly pursue life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Less regulation, not more would fix so many problems but then they can’t save us (problem-reaction-solution).
Thank YOU Chrellie! I’m glad you liked my post and I’m always happy to hear from someone else who ‘gets it’. 🙂
So sorry to hear they replaced it with even worse Freedom Act.
We are SO screwed. 🙁
This post should be required reading in every civics class in the land.
We have three co-equal branches of government, the legislative, the administrative and the judicial. If the Supreme Court is the final arbiter of whether or not a legislative or administrative action meets the test of constitutionality, and their decision is to be based solely on the constitution itself, why leave this to mere mortals subject to personal opinion?
Why not replace the nine with a computer programmed to interpret the constitution, using word definitions as they were in the late eighteenth century? Submit any proposed law or presidential fiat to the computer and “if it don’t fit, you must acquit.”
Any restrictions felt by our elected leaders from such an arrangement could then be addressed the way the founders intended, via the amendments process.
Our constitution is not a”living document”, It’s been strangled by the very people sworn to uphold it.
Thanks! I’m glad you thought so highly of my post. 🙂
One more thing I like to bring up is that since lawyers are part of the Judicial branch, it is unconstitutional for them to ALSO be serving in the Legislative branch (i.e. congress). The founders did NOT want lawyers writing our laws. The fact that they are is one of the biggest problems we have today.
I like your suggestion. I have been saying something similar for years. I think we should eliminate the entire congress! (I think that might be better than the Supremes, just because it would eliminate some steps and save time, since an unconstitutional bill would not become law in the first place). Program a computer with the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights and maybe some of the supporting philosophy behind it and let the computer decide if a bill should even merit consideration.
Pretty hard to corrupt a computer with trips to Miami with a bunch of hookers! Let the people debate and bring up a bill to the computer, plug it in there and the computer would ‘think’ for a few minutes and say ‘nope, it’s unconstitutional- not gonna happen!’.
My only concern has been how to prevent hackers changing the program.
I agree, it’s not a ‘living document’, the principles it is based on have not changed and will not ever change so the laws based on them should always be consistent with it in every case.
Many people will disagree with you because they believe this country was founded on the genocide of a “peaceful” indigenous peoples. Conqueriing peoples for land and wealth was a part of life back then to expand the existence of the populations. We’re almost out of room. The needs and desires of the many will most often than not outweigh the needs and freedoms of the few.
The main reason we have so many laws now is because some people took their freedoms and infringed upon other people’s freedoms. Slavery is just one of the situations that comes to mind.
A victimless crime, such as, spitting on the sidewalk, is more toward behavior modification than lawlessness and therefore, not necessary. Just hire someone to clean up the spittle, right?
When the United States was founded, most people worked for themselves or someone else–if they didn’t, they would often starve. You don’t work for it, you don’t eat.
Credit was basically unheard of outside indentured servitude.
I am for individual freedom as long as it doesn’t infringe upon and/or purposely harm anyone else. The basic rights should be for all, not a few who can afford it–but basic rights are up to the individual to provide for themselves. Taking money or property from me and giving it to someone else is not a basic right. The only excepting are those who truly cannot take care of themselves. Not for those who won’t take care of themselves.
Helping is helping–and many people often need help. Throwing assistance (subsistence) down a rat hole is a waste and should not be condoned nor tolerated.
The pursuit of happiness is relative–what makes you happy will not necessarily make me happy but the freedom to pursue that happiness should always be personal and individual.
We will always have the poor but we will not always have freedom unless their is someone willing to put their lives on the line in order to prevent those who use their freedoms to override the freedoms of others.
With true freedom comes great responsibilities as a people of society. Sadly, our representatives are mostly and generically corrupt. People of true heart rarely represent the masses after the first event.
Great civilizations have always risen through the conquest of others and have always fallen due to the apathy and complacency of its citizens as they rested under the mantle of their “greatness”. We are Rome, the chief difference being that we sold the gate key to the Barbarians.
what was that saying about the stages of civilization?
“The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through a nine stage sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; from dependency back again into bondage.”
I think we’re in the apathy to dependence stage at the moment and very soon to be in the bondage stage. I think more and more Americans are trying to escape, anyone who has the means to do it is doing it already. The rest of us are desperately trying to find some way to get out while we still can. 🙁
Thank you for your thoughtful comment. I know where you’re coming from with your comment about the colonists killing the natives and stealing their land, but most people don’t ever even consider that problem!
Yes, basic rights are inherent to everyone and everyone should be equal under the law. Our system now gives more rights to some than others. All you have to do is convince enough politicians to write a law in your favor and you get special ‘rights’ (that are NOT really rights since they always violate the rights of others). Freedom never includes the right to violate someone elses rights.
I don’t think it is the proper function of government to ‘help’, government is based on FORCE and so that is what it does best. Helping should be voluntary and if government would get back out of the way, people would be much more willing (and ABLE) to offer help. I think it’s much better to be able to help where you want to rather than be forced to ‘help’ where you disagree. All that does is create resentment (and more problems than you started with).
Exactly
Our forefathers thought long abd hard before taking on King and country. We dishonor them now with the mockery of government we have. This is not what they imagined, this is what they were fighting against. Victimless crimes are crimes because they try to legistate moral behavior. If they stopped, it would be some much needed chlorine in the gene pool.
Absolutely right, THIS is what they were fighting AGAINST! I keep wondering what is it going to take for us to wake up to that fact and do something about it? Lucky back then to have an amazing group of leaders, I don’t see anybody remotely resembling Jefferson, Washington, Franklin in any position of leadership in this country at this point in time.
Its a real shame, we have a population of over 300 million people and all we can come up with for a candidate for president is a Clinton or a Bush???
Democrat and Republican parties refuse to allow anyone else any media attention (except made up baloney) and so no one else can be heard. Those other candidates would be MUCH better for the country than any democrat or republican!
Even though I’m from the other side of the Atlantic I agree with most of this. My feeling about government is that it should be there to help pick you up if you fall (as in lose your job) and help protect you, but it should be a crutch not a knee brace.
Thanks for your comment. I’m glad to see how people from other places with different systems react to what we have here.
I know a lot of people here too agree with your outlook, but our government was very specifically set up to be extremely limited and was not supposed to do much of anything other than to protect our rights. To do things like have a navy to protect us from the UK for example. We had all kinds of voluntary groups to help you when you needed it (until the government stepped in and took over those functions- it does not do that job anywhere near as well as the private groups used to do).
We do have unemployment insurance for if we lose a job, but it is done through the government now. We used to have it without government, it worked better, so why did the government take it over? (politics!)
I like your analogy very much: a crutch not a knee brace. 🙂