Politics & Government- Freedom vs. Dependence

Warning- this is not unbiased. As a human being, I have opinions about how government should and does work- and if truth be told, so does everyone else, regardless of any protests otherwise.

At its most basic, politics is the interaction of people with each other. It is communication. You have friendships, perhaps enemies, opinions, things you want others to do, and things you want done, or not done, to, with or for you.

The United States was started as a confederacy- a loose alliance of states, each independent and each with rights that trumped the central government. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to overcome the international strength of the European powers, so the government had to be redefined to better provide for- and this was the extent of the federal government- common defense, the general welfare- the good of all the people as a whole-, and to ensure liberty. If you read the constitution carefully, you will see that time and again the founders, broken of a need for large government by Europe, gave power to the states and the people.

But power corrupts, and power seeks more power. So the government kept growing until it had to find a way to fund itself. Then the federal government decide that they should have the power to collect taxes (the people who argue that this is unconstitutional are correct, but understand, the government today does MANY things that are unconstitutional). When they became able to collect taxes, Pandora's box was open. Taxes increased, governmental control increased, and to offset that government told people that they would be taken care of. What they promised was nice, but the cost, and ultimate price, was and is our freedom and our ability to provide for ourselves. Until sometime in late spring we are working, each one of us, to provide for the government. Don't think if you get a refund that taxes are someone else's problem. You pay more for goods and services, and earn less, because of taxes- even those you don't see.

This push for power was also aided greatly by the civil war. Whatever your feelings, understand that the war was not about slavery- that was a contributing factor. The civil war was about the right of the states to leave the government. The states lost, and governmental power grew.

This push for power was also aided in the last century by the change to government providing for those without from charities and individuals helping those in need. Once we believed that the government could and should help those in need, we gave a tremendous blank check to government. Now they had a reason to ask for more of our income because they were doing something we wanted done but didn't want to sacrifice to do. So government promised to help those in need and we paid taxes.

Note that this is a promise that has never been fulfilled- government has taken a large part of what we put in for overhead, and has set up an endlessly repeating cycle of dependence among those "helped," providing (oddly, just as many slaveholders had in the prior century) just enough to keep those "provided" for from going to do something on their own about their situation. That dependence is in fact the exact opposite of freedom. Wherever you see that in history, you will see a crumbling nation, from Rome to Russia, with people losing self-will and motivation to strive, grow and improve.

So, with a 200+ year history of a nation tending toward bigger government and less freedom, we come to this year's election. More on the in the next post.

For now, aren't you afraid of giving your money to others instead of doing as God leads you to do with it? What has more government fixed? What part of our society is the most wasteful, the most unaccountable, the most corrupt? No industry or company holds a candle to our federal government when it comes to waste, fraud, greed or corruption. How will giving them control of something else or more help us? Don't you trust yourself more than the government?