Proper Role of Government

Political/Social

In the 1801 President Jefferson commissioned a group of men to find a westward water passage to the Pacific Ocean. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were chosen to lead this expedition and after over two years of training, on May 14, 1804 this group of explorers set out. Of course, we know that they were unsuccessful in finding an intact water way to the Pacific Coast but what they did find sparked the imagination of a nation. Meriwether Lewis and his crew returned with stories of unlimited and fertile lands, buffalo as far as the eye could see, and a majestic ocean full of fish. And so, the westward expansion began. President Jefferson aware of the potential of these newly discovered lands implemented ‘Manifest Destiny’, which basically outlined the need for the United States to control the land from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific coast.

Thousands of adventure seekers, hunters, trappers, farmers, and families loaded up their covered wagons and set out to lay claim to their piece of the American dream. As the flow of people progressed small communities, villages, and towns developed and life in western America took shape. Now, when a community finally did develop its citizens quickly realized that for their own safety and prosperity, they needed to form a small governing body complete with a city council and a sheriff. You see farmers and blacksmith and ranchers in these communities were located in some very isolated areas and as a result they were perfect targets for cattle rustlers, bank robbers, and thieves.

Former Secretary of Agriculture under the Eisenhower Administration Ezra Taft Benson pointed out that each community decided to set up a small government and a sheriff to help them protect their interest. The purpose of the government was to facilitate an environment where its citizens could grow their businesses safely and achieve their goal of caring for their families. The role of government was and always has been to protect the general welfare of its citizens.
Somewhere along the way, through taxation and through legislation our elected officials have taken this simple model of government and have built it into a monster; a monster that is unaccountable to anyone and is in the best interest of no one.

Our government of the people and by the people has become an institution of legislative bodies and committees who sole purpose is to collect taxes and acquire power from the people.
The more taxes collected, the more programs developed, the more power the government obtains. This should not be. Our government should do its best to minimize taxation to cover only those things that are necessary to the common defense of our nation. Everything else needed to make a community function should be carried out by private citizens and companies and/or the states themselves. I truly believe that private companies and corporations are much more efficient at running companies than our government.

Are their abuses and mismanagement? Absolutely, but if businesses fail because of mismanagement, then I am confident that another company with a better business model will step up and do a better job.

Government has no business being in the business of our businesses. We are a society built on the principals of capitalism; that an individual can start a business and with hard work and dedication can grow that business into a successful and thriving industry. Government should never be an obstacle in this process or be a competitor to this model.

Additionally, we started out as a country that said if you don’t work you don’t eat; that you are the one responsible for your success or failure in life and that the income that you make is the income that you keep. Unfortunately, we now have a government made up of professional politicians who feel it is their duty to distribute wealth. They insist on taking the earnings from those who work hard and give it to those who fail to do their fair share.

Our government has decided that it citizenry is too incompetent to manage its money and so they need to step in to do it for us. This is of course ridiculous. Our government continues to accumulate debt at record levels. Our government continues to over tax and marginalize the very citizens who pay for its existence, and our government continues to literally steal from its own people and spend their bounty on programs that are not in the best interest of its people. We are quickly becoming a socialist society where the government holds its citizens hostage to their benevolence. At what point did it become our government’s role to manage our lives?
If our government continues down this path of abusing its citizens with over burdening taxes and intrusive measures that limit our ability to manage our own affairs then we are doomed for failure.

Our federal government has become an out of control monster without accountability. We are accumulating government debt that can never be repaid. We are marginalizing our citizens to the point where they feel hopeless, and we are allowing our government to invade and regulate every area of our lives.
When will it stop?

I would suggest that at some point our citizens are going to stand up and revolt against our own legislative body and demand that power is returned to the people where it belongs. I believe this will happen when our economy crashes and it will crash down around us. When our hard working citizens can no longer put food on the table to feed their family, then and only then will the people rise up and take back our country. It is a real shame that it has to come to that.
Until then, I would suggest that families live within their means, avoid accumulating debt, and take an active role in making your community a better place to live. These are things that our government fails to do.

In conclusion, our government should be an established body of elected citizens that look out for the best interest of the people with as little interference as possible. Our government needs to provide for the common defense and we as a people, can handle the rest.

I pray that you are all well and God Bless you.

Jeff