I do not like government. It does nothing well. It never has.

That said, I understand its usefulness. I willingly cede it my God given powers over self determination on such issues as national borders, warfare, police protection, and infrastructure. These things it does not so well either, but I am convinced it does them better than I could myself.

But that is where it ends. I do not believe it is governments responsibility to save the poor. To force vaccines on preteen girls. To take my legally earned money and give it to someone for the suffering of their grandparents under the guise of ‘retributions’. Or to stop me from smoking. Or to force me to wear a seat belt. Or frighten my children with end of the world pseudo-scientific scenarios. It is not the government’s concern that I make minimum wage or that I earn 100 times what other employees take in. My tax money should not be used to destroy embryos…you personally want to do that, pay for it yourself. And for God’s sakes, why would any sane human being want a bureaucrat to decide his or her healthcare?

If these things are what government is now for, I don’t want it. You can keep it. I got some guns, some basic understanding of survival techniques…me and mine will be fine on our own, thank you very much.

I am convinced that our founding fathers did not have the juggernaut that we now call the government in mind when they took their lives into their hands to found a free society. That word ‘free’, does it have any meaning left? Americans pride themselves on their freedom, I question its existence.

Every time there is a disaster, a tragedy, or simply little Johnny has the hiccups some self-important politicians take it upon themselves to draft a bevy of new laws. Laws to change our behavior. Laws that makes criminals out of decent men.

Laws should be made to protect person and property, most of the rest are simply government intrusions on freedom. Hey, there’s that word again.

I often ask myself, are Americans now afraid to be free? Is today’s American willing to cede his or her freedom simply for personal comfort and freedom from worry? The answer I find is nearly always unpleasant.

This is not the America I choose to inhabit. Nor the one, I believe, our forefathers had envisioned. No thank you, I’d rather secede. That is, if I could only figure out with which of the myriad governmental entities I need to file my secession papers…

Said Glen @ 8:17 am | Permalink   

1. In the vein of disasters:

   I thought it was interesting when the tornadoes ripped up a few counties in Florida last month. There on the TV was Gov. Crist (Appropriate), Bill Nelson (well..OK, appropriate), Mel Martinez (well, yeah, him, too). All good words of support, just in time supplies and help FROM THE STATE…good on the emergency respones mechanism for Floridians by Floridians, paid for by taxes from Fl…

   Next was the FEMA Guy. “We’re here with tarps, ice, and trailers in case it’s needed.” (or some words to that effect).

   Great. Disaster within a state, handled by the state and FEMA, using federal tax dollars shows up with extra stuff. The cost of packing up and transporting all that stuff, just so on one says anything bad about the President and FEMA is, well, not a word to use here, but, politely, government waste, fraud and abuse.

   So the politicians, once more over ride personal responsibility, this time with overkill, so they won’t look bad, but on our dime.

   Thanks, you guys at the top, for purchasing good vibes when we have more important spending priorities.

   Just a suggestion: Why not bring stuff when it’s obvious what resources on site are dwindling? Yeah, that might take the first responders some extra management time to see the “burn rate” of the emergency stuff being issued. I would hope a system is in place to track that anyhow…

   As far as other laws to protect us. I have lots of feelings about that, such as how we go for the 1% solution, not realizing the implication for the 99% that the snappy responses will mandate in the long haul. It also ignores going to the root cause to fix the problems, but only goes after symptoms. Like the transformation of medicine in the country, we need more holistic approaches , and that can happen outside the government (which would be more cost effective anyhow).

   Good post.

   Comment by xformed — 2/27/2007 @ 8:30 am

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2. Xformed, it is the habit of Florida to throw the kitchen sink at a disaster, and has been since hurricane Andrew. It is a process that while looking expensive, has in fact paid off for the citizens in need. The Florida philosophy is “we will send counties everything we have until they say stop”. The other option is the Katrina option. Wait to see what is happening, evaluate needs ad nauseum, and then send what is needed. I prefer the former example, and as Florida is on the cutting edge of response ot disasters and even guiding the hand of FEMA, I feel that we as a nation might find ourselves better able to respond to the next major disaster better than the last if we follow the example of “here it is if you need it”, versus, “lets have a committee look at their needs and then decide if we should send it or not”.

   My 2 cents as an emergency manager.

   Comment by Richard Nixon — 3/1/2007 @ 7:45 am

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3. What really is the bigger threat global warming or political warming? You think it’s bad now just wait another 25 yrs and see how many intrusive laws are in place. Imagine being told what car you have to drive. What food you can eat and when to eat it. Having to be certified to surf the internet. Of course pay tax per click! It’s coming trust me. When law makers truly decide to police the net you will pay for it. How about a certificate to protest? High risk protester tax? Ok I don’t want to give anyone idea’s here. I suppose you get my point. It’s gonna take a revolution…

   Comment by Kenneth — 3/1/2007 @ 9:41 am

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